Off The Record – Workers’ Comp – Hearing Loss

Video Transcript

Hi, I’m Bill Turley. I’m one of the partners at Turley, Redmond & Rosasco, and I’m here today to talk to you about work-related hearing loss. Now, there are two types of work-related hearing loss that we deal with in the worker’s compensation system. One is traumatic hearing loss. And the other one is occupational hearing loss.

And traumatic hearing loss is exactly as it sounds, it’s hearing loss due to a specific trauma. And that could be an explosion or an extremely loud noise, or it could be something like being too close to the sound of a gunshot. And that would result in a traumatic acute hearing loss. The other type of hearing loss is something called occupational hearing loss. And that is the type of hearing loss that results in long-term exposure to loud noises. Okay, and typically, you’ll see that in the construction industry, people who work around loud drills and heavy machinery, heavy hammering and banging, and, you know, cranes, things like that. Anywhere we hear loud noise in the environment that could result in hearing loss that takes place over time. Okay.

Now, yeah, a certain amount of hearing loss could be attributable to the aging process. And, you know, for many decades, people have been walking around with these headphones, and, you know, eventually, we’re, gonna, see the long-term effects of that. But truth be told, a lot of hearing loss can be attributable to the work environment, especially the noisy work environment. And there are people in the construction industry that regularly use hearing protection, which is very helpful and alleviates some of the hearing loss, but you know, it’s not entirely foolproof, and people don’t always wear their hearing protection.

So, if you do have a hearing loss that’s work-related, you may be entitled to valuable benefits under the New York State workers’ compensation law. So if you have issues with hearing loss, you should get checked out by a hearing specialist. But if you have questions regarding that or any other work-related matters, please check out our website at www.nydisabilitylaw.com. This is Bill Turley, and thank you for listening.