This week sees the 250th anniversary of the birth of the great musician Ludwig van Beethoven. His exact date of birth is unknown, but today is the 250th anniversary of his baptism, and it is quite likely he was born 250 years ago yesterday.

Beethoven revolutionised music. His compositions advanced expression in music, conveying deep emotion. His influence on classical music was profound, shaping much of the rest of 19th-century music.

I started to listen to music seriously while at college and noticed some of Beethoven's nicest tunes. But then I found the depth within his music. I was surprised to find that his compositions affected me emotionally, not in a soft, whimsical way but with its strength and power.

I found some of Beethoven's music left me feeling elated and uplifted, such as the final movement of the Fifth Symphony. Some was highly energising. I found it astonishing that music written two centuries earlier could affect me so powerfully.

Much of the time of my PhD studies was bleak as I struggled to make progress without the necessary data, computing resources and support from a supervisor. I found solace in Beethoven's late quartets. I would sometimes feel despair during the later period of my studies.

I found that only one thing would lift my mood during these periods of despair: listening to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, and in its entirety not just the Ode To Joy. I feared that some day this would no longer work and there would be no way out of my despair. But Beethoven ...

... always worked.

I remember the night the Berlin Wall fell. I watched the reports on the BBC's Newsnight programme, then turned the television off and listened to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony to celebrate.

I have made the personal discovery of the music of many other composers but Beethoven is always there, my own favourite. The symphonies, concertos, piano sonatas, string quartets, choral music, violin sonatas, cello sonatas, variations, overtures, the opera, and so much more.

How could one genius born 250 years ago this week affect me so much? A musician who went deaf.