degenerative condition
ブログでも取り上げらていますが，「全聾の作曲家」佐村河内守氏の記事がThe New York Times 国際版にも掲載されていました。
degenerativeには「退化的な、退行性の」（『Wisdom英和辞典(第3版)』三省堂)という語義もございますがここでは「[医]変性(の)<疾患など>」（ibid）となります。したがってdegenerative conditionで「変性状態」と解釈できるかと思います。最後にdegenerative conditionは過去の記事中にも記述がございますので併せてご一読頂ければと思います。（cf. anchor - 田邉祐司ゼミ 常時英心：言葉の森から）（Shou-VR*）
Japanese Composer Says His Hearing Loss Is Partly Faked
He made the confession the day before a tabloid published an interview with the ghostwriter, Takashi Niigaki, 43, a part-time lecturer at a music college. Mr. Niigaki said that Mr. Samuragochi, who claimed in his autobiography to have mastered Beethoven by age 10, could actually hear all along and comment on his compositions. In his autobiography, Mr. Samuragochi said he had lost all hearing in both ears at age 35 because of a degenerative condition.
