I LIVE ENTIRELY1 IN MY MUSICBEETHOVEN
Beethoven probably began to go deaf after what he called his terrible typhus of 1797, but he tried to keep it a secret, while consulting doctors and trying various remedies, such as the application of almond oil. He was extremely anxious about its possible effect on his career as a musician, and embarrassed by its effect on his social life.
In the summer of 1801 he wrote to tow friends. To Franz Wegeler in Bonn he wrote that he was very busy, with more commissions than he could cope with，and publishers competing to get hold of his latest works, but he was worried about his health, and particularly about his gradual loss of hearing. He had been leading a miserable2 life for the previous two years because of his deafness, and had avoided human company because he found it hard to tell people that he was deaf. He would always say, I live entirely in my music.
Two days later he wrote to Karl Amenda, a more recent friend. On the same lines, expressing the anxiety that his best years would pass without my being able to achieve all that my talent and my strength have commanded me to do. His fear that his deafness would prevent him from realizing his artistic3 potential led him to contemplate4 taking his own artistic life, but in the so-called Heiligenstadt Testament, addressed to his brothers and found among his papers after his death, which he wrote in the depths of despair in October 1802, he said that he had rejected suicide, and was resigned to his condition. He explained that his deafness was the reason why he had been withdrawing from peoples company, because he found it so humiliating not being able to hear, but he did not want to tell people about it. Although tempted5 to kill himself, the only thing that held me back was my art. For indeed it seemed to me impossible to leave this world before I had produced all the works that I felt the urge to compose.
During the summer of 1802 he had spent six months in Heiligenstadt, thirteen miles outside Vienna, on the advice of one of his doctors who thought that his hearing might improve in the peace and quiet away from Vienna. But his pupil, Ferdinand Ries visited him in the summer, and during a walk in the summer, and during a walk in the woods pointed6 out o fan elder twig7. Beethoven could not hear it, and this made him very morose8 , As the winter approached he realized that his hearing was no better, and that it was likely to get worse, and he might end up totally deaf.
It could be argued that Beethovens deafness helped the development of his art: isolated9 from the world, and unable to perform, he could devote all his time to composing, He was already composing less at the piano, and the first of his bound sketchbooks, in which he made detailed10 drafts of the works in progress. Date from 1798. In his panic, at the beginning, Beethoven may have believed himself to be deaf. He suffered from tinnitus , and loud noises caused him pain. In 1804 his friend Stephan von Breuning, with whom he briefly11 shared lodgings12, wrote to Franz Wegler about the terrible effect his gradual loss of hearing was having on Beethoven: it had caused him to distrust his friends, and he was becoming very difficult to be with. But Beethoven did not start using an ear trumpet13 until 1814.
But above all else, Beethoven was dedicated14 to his art and the urge to compose remained with him throughout his life. It may be that he shielded away form the commitment of marriage because he knew it would interfere15 with his art. From a very early age he wanted to compose and, although he needed to earn a living, he wrote I love my art too dearly to be activated16 solely17 by self-interest.
贝多芬开始失聪大概是在1797年，在染上他称为可怕的斑疹伤寒后，但他想尽可能保密，同时去看大夫并试了各种疗法，如用杏仁油。作为一名音乐家，这对他的事业所可能产生的影响使他感到极度忧虑，同时这对他社会生活的影响邮局是令他十分难堪的。
1801年夏他致信给两位朋友。在给波恩的弗朗茨韦格勒的信中他说他非常忙，创作疲于应对，出版商争着要得到他的新作，但他担忧我们的身体，尤其是担忧听觉日渐在丧失。在前两年因为他的失聪，生活开始变得痛苦，同时他防止与别人在一块，由于他不愿告诉其他人他聋了。他常常说，我完全沉醉在音乐中。
两天后他写信给卡尔阿曼达，一位新结识的朋友，在同样的字里行间，他表示他担忧我们的黄金岁月将在我没凭才能和力量获得我应得的收获中度过去时。他担忧失聪会使他没办法发挥艺术潜力能，如此想法致使他去考虑结束我们的艺术生命，但1802年十月，他在极度绝望中写给弟兄们的所谓海黎詹斯登遗嘱里说，他已舍弃自杀的念头，想顺其自然，这是他死后在他的书稿中找到的。他讲解说耳聋是他离得远远的众人的缘由，由于他感觉失去听力是很丢人的，可他又不想被其他人了解。尽管他想自杀，唯一能阻止我的是我的艺术。说真的在我没把我感觉立即该谱的曲子都创作出来之前，我离不开这个世界。
1802年夏，他已在距维也纳十三英里的海黎詹斯登度过了六个月，这是根据他的一名大夫的建议，觉得呆在维也纳郊外平静的地方能够帮助他听力的恢复。但他的学生斐迪南雷斯（波恩宫廷乐队头头的儿子）那年夏季去拜访他，并一块在树林里散步时，他指着一个正用稍稍长成的树枝做的笛子吹奏的牧羊人。贝多芬却听不到，这使他很郁闷。到了那年冬季，他意识到他的听觉不但不见好转，而且我可能每况愈下，以至彻底失聪。
有人说贝多芬的失聪帮他提升了他的艺术：与世界隔绝，没办法演出，他得以全身心地投入创作。他创作的钢琴曲本已愈加少，在他装帧过的概要手册的第一册中，他详细地做了从1798年起的作品计划纲要。他刚开始，忐忑不安的贝多芬就觉得自己多半会变聋，他饱受耳鸣的痛苦（耳朵里嗡嗡作响），巨大的嗓音使他痛苦不堪。1804年，他的朋友斯蒂文冯勃鲁宁曾与他一同住过一段时间，这位朋友在写给弗朗茨韦格勒的信中说，贝多芬听力的渐渐丧失给了他可怕的影响：这使他不再信赖他的朋友，同时其他人也非常难与他相处。但贝多芬直到1814年才开始带助听器。