Friedrich Bezold (9 February 1842 – 5 October 1908) was a German

otologist Otology is a branch of medicine which studies normal and pathological anatomy and physiology of the ear (hearing and vestibular sensory systems and related structures and functions) as well as their diseases, diagnosis and treatment. Otologic ...

and professor at the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's List of universities in Germany, sixth-oldest u ...

. He made several contributions to early

audiology Audiology (from Latin , "to hear"; and from Greek , ''-logia'') is a branch of science that studies hearing, balance, and related disorders. Audiologists treat those with hearing loss and proactively prevent related damage. By employing various ...

. He is best known for developing hearing tests with

tuning fork A tuning fork is an acoustic resonator in the form of a two-pronged fork with the prongs (tines) formed from a U-shaped bar of elastic metal (usually steel). It resonates at a specific constant pitch when set vibrating by striking it against ...

s and his work to improve education for the hearing impaired. He was also the first physician to provide a clear understanding of

mastoiditis Mastoiditis is the result of an infection that extends to the air cells of the skull behind the ear. Specifically, it is an inflammation of the mucosal lining of the mastoid antrum and mastoid air cell system inside the mastoid process. The ma ...

. The following medical terms are named after him: *

Bezold's abscess Bezold's abscess is an abscess deep to the sternocleidomastoid muscle where pus from mastoiditis erodes through the cortex of the mastoid part of the temporal bone, medial to the attachment of sternocleidomastoid, extends into the infratemporal fos ...

* Bezold's mastoiditis: mastoiditis with perforation into the gigastric groove that creates a deep neck abscess. * Bezold's sign: indication of descending mastoiditis * Bezold's test: method of testing deafness by use of a tuning fork * Bezold's triad: Three symptomatic indications of

otosclerosis Otosclerosis is a condition of the middle ear where portions of the dense enchondral layer of the bony labyrinth remodel into one or more lesions of irregularly-laid spongy bone. As the lesions reach the stapes the bone is resorbed, then hardene ...

: 1. diminished aural perception of low frequency tones, 2. retarded

bone conduction Bone conduction is the conduction of sound to the inner ear primarily through the bones of the skull, allowing the hearer to perceive audio content without blocking the ear canal. Bone conduction transmission occurs constantly as sound waves vibr ...

, 3. negative

Rinne test Rinne may refer to: People *Aleksi Rinne (1899–1974), Finnish smallholder and politician *Antti Rinne (b. 1962), Finnish politician *Esa Rinne (b. 1943), Finnish athlete *Fanny Rinne (b. 1980), field hockey midfielder from Germany *Fred Rinne (b. ...

* Bezold-Edelmann continuous scale: A series of tuning forks along with Galton's whistle or

monochord A monochord, also known as sonometer (see below), is an ancient musical and scientific laboratory instrument, involving one (mono-) string ( chord). The term ''monochord'' is sometimes used as the class-name for any musical stringed instrument h ...

, in which all perceptible notes can be heard in continuous sequence. Named along with physician Adolf Edelmann (1885-1939).

References

''Friedrich Bezold''
@

Who Named It ''Whonamedit?'' is an online English-language dictionary of medical eponyms and the people associated with their identification. Though it is a dictionary, many eponyms and persons are presented in extensive articles with comprehensive bibliograph ...

1842 births 1908 deaths Academic staff of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich German otolaryngologists {{germany-med-bio-stub