From The Albion Magazine (1907):

When a man suddenly becomes deaf there is little or nothing he would shrink from if it afforded, or seemed to afford, the smallest chance that he would recover the enjoyment of a sense which he never properly valued until he lost it. About sixteen years ago, when well advanced in life, I suddenly lost my hearing, first in one ear and after a few days in the other; and so great was my desire for a cure, that in the course of the next twelve-month I had placed myself, consecutively, under no fewer than six medical men, most of them well-known specialists.

The writer then summarizes his treatments and remarks in a table:

Treatment 1: Politzer’s inflation and Eustachian Catheterism on both sides. Pilocarpine internally. Result: Deafness became absolute on both sides.

Treatment 2: Potassium Iodidum in heroic doses. Potassium Bromidum. Blisters behind Ears. Result: Depression to the verge of suicide.

Treatment 3: Phosphorus. Result: Exaltation to the verge of lunacy.

Treatment 4: Ferrum Perchloridum. Galvanic Chain. Stimulating Food, Wine. Result: none.

Treatment 5: Gaiffe’s Battery. Result: none.

Treatment 6: Nitro-Glycerine. Arsenic. Result: none.