Filing a Workers’ Compensation Claim for Hearing Loss
How loud is your workplace? Try this test: If you have to raise your voice to speak to someone who is standing just three feet away, it might be too loud. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), exposure to 85 decibels of noise over an eight-hour workday can increase the risk of hearing loss. As a point of reference, a gas-powered lawnmower generates up to 100 decibels.
If you are experiencing hearing loss due to noise exposure on the job, you may be entitled to file a workers’ compensation claim. In some cases, hearing loss can be considered a permanent partial disability that may impact your ability to work. When something like that is caused on the job, you deserve to have your losses covered. That is what workers’ compensation is all about.
How Common Is Workplace Hearing Loss?
There are many jobs, such as factory work and construction projects, that generate a lot of noise.
This is why workers in these industries are at the greatest risk of developing hearing loss. How common is workplace hearing loss?
Consider these alarming statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
- 12% of all workers have hearing difficulty
- 8% of all workers have tinnitus
- 53% of workers exposed to high-decibel noise report not wearing hearing protection
- 13% of noise-exposed tested workers have hearing impairment in both ears
- 25% of all workers have been exposed to hazardous noise
Additionally, the CDC estimates that 22 million workers were exposed to hazardous noise levels last year.
How Can Workers File a Workers’ Comp Claim for Hearing Loss?
Before you file a workers’ compensation claim for hearing loss, it is important to understand the nature of the injury. There are two types of hearing loss: Traumatic or occupational. A traumatic hearing loss happens suddenly from an extremely loud noise, such as an explosion or gunshot. In those cases, you can experience immediate hearing loss, but it might be recoverable.
Occupational hearing loss occurs when you are exposed to hazardous levels of noise over an extended period. This typically happens at construction sites, warehouses, and manufacturing plants.
There are two types of hearing loss. The first is traumatic, which would be an explosion or gunshot that causes immediate loss of hearing. The other is occupational, which happens when noise is a constant feature in work environments, such as construction sites, factories, and manufacturing plants.
In many of these environments, employers are obligated to provide protection for the workers. Failure to do so can lead to hearing loss.
If you’ve experienced a loss, you should be examined by an audiologist to determine which of the following categories you’ve experienced:
- Sensorineural: damage to the nerves
- Conductive: damage to the outer or middle ear system
- Mixed: a combination of sensorineural and conductive
Once the loss has been confirmed, your employer should notify their workers’ compensation insurance carrier. If it can be established that you have suffered at least a 10% hearing loss, it could lead to an approval for benefits.
Finding an Advocate
The amount of benefits you could receive depends on where you live and the standards that your state’s workers’ compensation board has put in place. Those benefits will be just a portion of your salary and for a specific time frame.
The benefits can also include compensation for hearing aids, doctor visits, and medication. This is where the support of an experienced workers’ compensation attorney can help.
A skilled workers’ compensation attorney helps employees who have been injured on the job, including workers who suffer from occupational hearing loss. You need to establish that the hearing loss occurred on your present job or was exacerbated by your present working conditions. The workers’ compensation insurance carrier could deny the claim.
A skilled attorney will be prepared to address those issues at an appeal hearing. They will make sure you are fully prepared to present your story at the hearing.
Hearing loss can be scary, but when that loss happens because of your work, you deserve compensation. If you are ready to take those next steps to make a claim, check out our resources at Work Injury Advisor.
