[Hearing loss in a cultural-historical context. Part 1].

BACKGROUND

It is rare to find anything written about hearing loss or its treatment in either representative art or in a medical-historical context in ear, nose and throat journals.

METHODS

Examples dating back over the past 4000 years found in medical-historical, philosophical, and literary documents are presented and commented on.

RESULTS

The ancient Egyptians and Greeks attempted to explain deafness and sought remedies,making use not only of empiric rational means but also magic and religion. Later, in the Middle Ages, examples from Christian iconography are found demonstrating miracle healing of deafness. Education of the deaf was not considered possible from the time of Aristotle to the sixteenth century, but from then on was organized on a large scale utilizing speech with gestures.