Why did Beethoven not want others to know he was deaf?

The composer Beethoven did not cut off his ears. The painter, Vincent Van Gogh did cut off part of one of his ears. The story goes that on the evening of 23 December 1888, Van Gogh cut off the lower half of his left ear and took it to a brothel, where he presented it to a prostitute friend. The reason for this unusual behaviour has been theorised upon by many; the most likely cause was that it was the result of an argument with his painter friend Paul Gauguin, although that does not explain his bizarre behaviour.