Featured in Domain Arrivals · 2026-08-09

Beethoven’s Ears, Rendered as a Failing Web Page

An interactive account of Beethoven’s hearing loss from 1798 to 1824, told through a page that gradually loses its own sound as you scroll.

Why it surfaced

Press and hold to hear a synthesized note fade over six seconds, then follow the story through letters, the Heiligenstadt Testament, the surviving conversation books, and the Ninth Symphony’s premiere. Its final turn—Beethoven seeing five ovations he could not hear—lands with unusual force, while the page carefully separates documented quotations from its own narration.