New noise-induced hearing loss guidance – Could you now be eligible to Claim?

There has been an exciting change in in the field of Industrial Deafness (Noise Induced Hearing Loss)…

…with well respected medical experts providing an update and amendments to the long standing guidance on diagnosing Noise Induced Hearing Loss in the UK.

The lead author Professor Moore of the Cambridge Hearing Group has developed amendments to the guidance which has stood since 2000 as they, in his view, impose noise requirements that have been considered too stringent.

This will potentially allow people who have previously been rejected for a hearing loss claim, based on their noise exposure, as now potentially able to bring a claim.

The details are that until this recent paper a person had to prove a Noise Imission Level (NIL) of 100dB. This is a lifetime noise dose that a person is subjected to prove they have hearing loss which is related to noise. To hit this level of 100dB you would need to have worked in a high noise level of 90dB for at least 9 to 10 years.

If you were exposed to 85dB then you would have had to work in that noise level for 30 years to be able to his 100dB NIL.  This requirement, in the above paper, is reduced to 90dB Nil. Which by comparison would require you to work in noise of 90dB for 1 year and 85dB for only 4 to 6 years.

This is a considerable shift in the criterion which have previously been much more stringent than this new papers suggest that they should be.

Another bar was that noise exposure below 85dBLep,d, which is the 8 hour weighted noise level, would be excluded as it was not considered damaging to your hearing. This is in direct conflict with the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 which set the lower action level at 80dBLep,d.

The author of the above paper has suggested that the lower limit of 85dBlep,d be removed and that there should be no lower limit.

There are other changes made to the report which will assist those who have been exposed to noise in the military and those who have not been exposed to what is called broadband or steady state noise. Therefore making claims for those who have been exposed to pulsatile noise such as hammering much easier to obtain a diagnosis upon.

If you find yourselves reading this and you have recently been rejected or turn down for a hearing loss claim or are considering it for the first time, given the above change, it really is worth now getting in touch to see whether we may be able to assist following these changes in the diagnosis of Noise Induced hearing loss.

Further reading

Noise-induced hearing loss claims – Oakwood Solicitors

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