Overview-Hearing Loss

…forgive me when you see me draw back when I would gladly mingle with you, my misfortune is doubly painful because it must lead to my being misunderstood. For me there can be no recreations in society of my fellows, refined intercourse, mutual exchange of thought, only just as little as the greatest needs command may I mix with society. I must live like an exile. If I approach near to people a hot terror seizes upon me, a fear that I may be subjected to the danger of letting my condition be observed. … Such incidents brought me to the verge of despair.

Ludwig von Beethoven, 1802, on his deafness