It was a bit of a PR stunt but a very clever one.  Instead of listening to tones in a booth, the people being tested were treated to Beethoven played live by a symphony orchestra.

The choice of Beethoven’s Fifth is kind of poignant.  He wrote it during his thirties, a time when he was becoming increasingly deaf.

The special concert was sponsored by Neuroth, an Austrian audiology firm, and took place in Bern, Switzerland.  Not sure how scientific the test results were but it certainly was an interesting way to do it.