Filing A Personal Injury Suit For Hearing Loss

Hearing loss is more common than you think, with almost a quarter of Americans suffering from noise-induced hearing loss. This is just one form of this disability, and contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t always happen gradually. 

In fact, many people wonder can a neck injury cause hearing loss in car accidents and are surprised when they learn it happens fairly frequently.

If someone else was negligent and their actions contributed to your hearing damage, you have legal recourse and can recover compensation for your hearing loss.

Here’s all you need to know.

How can someone else’s negligence contribute to hearing loss?

Although hearing loss is often connected to age, injuries or exposure to loud noises can also contribute to gradual or sudden loss of hearing. Situations in which someone’s negligence can lead to hearing loss may include:

Car accidents

If you’re wondering can a neck injury cause hearing loss and how it happens, this is the most common scenario. Car accidents often result in whiplash, which puts the cervical spine under a lot of stress. Consequently, this can damage the ear vessels or nerves. Common related problems stemming from neck injuries may include hearing loss, tinnitus, or vertigo. 

Head injuries are also notorious for causing hearing loss. Colliding with a steering wheel or the windshield can damage and rupture the eardrums or worse - damage the nerves between the brain and the ears. 

Lastly, airbags can also damage your hearing permanently. This is because airbag deployment can sometimes create noise levels above 160dB (louder than a jet taking off), which is more than enough to bring about severe hearing loss. 

In most cases, if the other person was responsible for the accident through negligent actions, you can file a personal injury claim to recover compensation. Alternatively, if your hearing loss was prompted by a loud airbag, you may even file a claim against the manufacturer.

Work-related hearing loss

While the answer to the question of can a neck injury cause hearing loss is related to a sudden onset of hearing loss symptoms, work-related hearing loss is often gradual.

For instance, employers may expose their workers to loud machinery without providing hearing protection. In such a scenario, they are liable for the damages related to hearing loss. This is pretty straightforward - Occupation Safety And Health Administration requires companies to implement hearing protection programs if their workplaces have noise levels that exceed 85dB over eight hours.

This also applies to cases in which the company failed to warn employees about the noise dangers in their workspace.

Defective product hearing loss

If your hearing loss happened as a result of manufacturing or design defects in hearing safety equipment, you could sue the manufacturer. Let’s say the earplugs designed to protect you from firearm noise are defective and lead to gradual hearing loss - you are eligible to receive compensation.

Medical malpractice hearing loss

If any medical condition exacerbated your hearing damage because a physician failed to make a proper diagnosis, you can file a medical malpractice claim for your hearing loss. This includes ear infections that went undiagnosed, tumors, autoimmune diseases, meningitis, or Meniere’s diseases, among others.

Effects of hearing loss

When considering can a neck injury cause hearing loss, you also have to think about other short-term and long-term injuries. Many victims are so focused on recovering the costs of immediate treatment that they rarely seek compensation for their hearing problems.

Regardless if it’s temporary, permanent, total, or partial, the effects of hearing loss can be devastating, leading to a significant decline in life quality and a great deal of mental anguish. 

Take tinnitus, for example. It may seem like an inconvenience at first, yet over time, it can generate significant mental strain as the constant ringing is quite difficult to endure. Even worse, in severe cases, the ringing may drown out conversation. 

The same applies to a ruptured eardrum.  This condition will eventually heal, but the remaining scar tissue can trigger a significant drop in hearing ability and bring about a lot of anguish in the future.

How can you prove negligence in a hearing loss case?

In addition to the victim’s tendencies to become preoccupied with other injuries, many also assume hearing loss is hard to prove and fail to include it in their claim form. It also doesn’t help that in many instances, the symptoms of hearing damage don’t manifest instantly. 

Yes, this can complicate the matters of your case, but it’s never a good idea to avoid making a claim or downplaying the extent of your ailment. This is a serious condition that can have adverse effects on your life, which means you deserve to get properly compensated by the at-fault party.

How challenging is it to prove negligence?

For instance, with job-related hearing impairments, damage can occur over several years. The insurance company and the employer will most likely claim your hearing loss was caused by other factors or is completely natural. 

Fortunately, an experienced attorney can help prove your hearing loss isn’t natural but actually the result of your work-related activities or an accident. They can successfully compile evidence and demonstrate that your lifestyle or age aren’t a factor. For example, they may prove that your recreational activities don’t involve loud music or long exposure to loud environments, hence, they couldn’t contribute to your hearing loss.

Along with an attorney, your hearing loss claim also hinges on impartial medical evaluations. Physicians can pinpoint the source of your hearing loss, and possibly even connect it to your workplace exposure or an accident, through tests such as:

• Whisper tests: covering an ear and checking if you’re able to hear speech at different volume levels
• Audiometry tests: determining the softest sounds you’re able to hear
• Tuning fork tests: this ascertains the severity of your hearing loss and identifies the ear in which most of the damage occurred

Receive the compensation you deserve

Insurance companies will usually fight tooth and nail to dismiss your hearing loss claim. This generally applies to all injuries that aren’t readily visible. While the entire process may be an uphill battle, an experienced personal injury attorney can provide you with the push needed to win.

Attorneys at Law Offices of RITE have extensive experience supporting plaintiffs in similar circumstances as yourself. With us handling the case, your chances of proving that your hearing loss is legitimate are significantly higher, and so are the odds of receiving the highest possible settlement.

Schedule a consultation now by calling (904) 500-RITE (7483) or send us a message at info@rite4justice.com and receive the legal guidance you deserve.

Note: 

The information in this blog post is for reference only and not legal advice. As such, you should not make legal decisions based on the information in this blog post. Moreover, there is no lawyer-client relationship resulting from this blog post, nor should any such relationship be implied. If you need legal counsel, please consult a lawyer licensed to practice in your jurisdiction.