# Beethoven used a maching to hear?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beethoven-used-a-maching-to-hear/520251>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 6, 2009, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beethoven-used-a-maching-to-hear/520251 "2009-12-06T23:59:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beethoven-used-a-maching-to-hear/520251/1 "2009-12-06T23:59:45Z")

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I’ve never heard this story, but came across it in student’s paper. Anyone know the verity of this? “Beethoven used a machine which connected the piano to a metal rod in his mouth by a string so he could feel the vibrations as he conducted the symphony.”

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**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beethoven-used-a-maching-to-hear/520251/2 "2009-12-07T00:21:26Z")

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I haven’t heard of that before, but I do know that Beethoven used to stick a ruler in his mouth and touch the other end of the ruler to the piano so that he could “hear” the vibrations from it. He also used ear trumpets on occasion.

Considering that he already knew the ruler trick to transmit vibrations from the piano to his mouth, it’s not much of a stretch to using a piece of string with a bit of metal on the end to basically do the same thing. As long as you hold the string tight, the device will work. It’s basically the same idea as using two tin cans with a piece of string between them to talk to one another (i.e. the old fashioned “telephones” that we used to make when we were kids).

While the device is certainly plausible, it still would be nice to get an actual cite to prove that he did in fact use it.

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**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beethoven-used-a-maching-to-hear/520251/3 "2009-12-07T00:25:41Z")

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The Wikipedia article for Beethoven uses a cite from [here](http://www.jstor.org/pss/746569?cookieSet=1). It mentions the use of a horn and resonance plate, but you have to pay to read the whole article.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beethoven-used-a-maching-to-hear/520251/4 "2009-12-07T00:26:05Z")

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Here’s a wikipedia cite. Being wikipedia, make of this what you will.

> [@](#):
>
> Beethoven used a special rod attached to the soundboard on a piano that he could bite—the vibrations would then transfer from the piano to his jaw to increase his perception of the sound. A large collection of his hearing aids such as special ear horns can be viewed at the Beethoven House Museum in Bonn, Germany.

I get the impression that this device was a solid rod instead of a piece of metal on a string. Both methods would work.