Occupational Hearing Loss and Tinnitus

Do you have hearing loss? Do you have ringing in your ears?

Do you work in a noisy place or are you exposed to noise on the job? If so, you may be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits.

HEARING LOSS
Iowa law provides special workers' compensation coverage for hearing loss, but the statute is very specific.
1)The hearing loss must be above a defined level.
2)Your employment situation must change.

The second part can happen in several ways, and sometimes you could lose your right to compensation without really knowing about it:
a)You retire, or otherwise change employers (quit, fired, etc.);
b)You start to wear some kind of ear protection;
c)You change jobs in the plant, so that you are no longer exposed to the same kind of noise;
d)Your company changes owners.

When any of these things happen, you have two (2) years to make a claim with the Workers' Compensation Commission. The first two are easy to notice, but the other two can be tricky. Almost any change of job can be the trigger for the two-year rule, even if you think you are still in the middle of the noise. A company can change ownership without changing names or any of the personnel in your plant.
Your company should be testing you regularly if you are in a high noise environment, but just because they don’t test doesn’t mean you don’t have noise exposure.
If you think you might have hearing loss, it’s a good idea to check with an attorney. If you have hearing loss and either a) b) c) or d) has happened, you should definitely find out if you have a claim.

Iowa Code Chapter 85B. Occupational Hearing Loss.

TINNITUS (ringing or buzzing in the ears)

Tinnitus is that terrible ringing in the ears that often follows exposure to loud noise. You might have noticed this after a concert or shooting a gun or any exposure to loud noise. The show is over, but there's a ringing in your ears. For some people, the problem is only temporary. It's frustrating but has no lasting effect. There can be more significant problems, however. It can become permanent. And that's serious business.

Tinnitus is a separate problem from industrial hearing loss and is recognized as a separate type of injury. The law treats ringing or buzzing in the ears the same as any other cumulative work injury. It develops over a period of time. When the tinnitus starts to interfere with your work, you have suffered an injury and need to notify your employer. Like any other work injury, you have two years from the injury to make a claim with the Workers’ Compensation Commission.

Warning signs of hearing damage include:

• Tinnitus (ringing or buzzing in the ears)
• Muffling of sounds
• Difficulty understanding speech (you can hear all the words but can’t understand them)
• Difficulty understanding conversations in groups of people where there is background noise

If you experience any of these early warnings, don’t wait to seek help. Have your hearing checked by a hearing health professional.

Hearing loss and tinnitus is the number one hidden disability in the United States and throughout the world. Hearing loss is irreversible, gradual, and painless. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) reports 51 million Americans suffer from tinnitus (ringing in the ears), while 28 million more have hearing loss. Twenty million Americans are exposed to hazardous sound levels regularly.

Hearing loss from noise is irreversible. Once it's gone, it's gone.

Resources: American Tinnitus Association