Hearing loss is one of the most common work-related illnesses in the United States. According to CDC, roughly 22 million workers are exposed to hazardous noise on the job every year, and a 2023 NIOSH study estimated that U.S. workers' compensation systems handle roughly 5,000 occupational hearing loss claims a year, at about $60 million annually in 2013 dollars.

Imagine you are the injured worker. Your adjuster finds a clinic and calls to schedule an appointment, often weeks out. You take time off work, or you use a day of the leave you're already burning through because of the injury. You sit in a waiting room. You get a hearing test. And then, often, you go home without a device because hearing aids aren't a product you pull off a shelf.

...Each visit that pulls the worker off the job can also add wage-loss benefits, depending on the state, on top of what the employer spends covering the missed shift. On a single claim, none of these line items looks large. Across a book of hundreds of hearing loss claims, each staying open for months, they add up quickly. Hearing loss claims are already prone to dispute: the loss builds gradually, overlaps with normal age-related change, and is often claimed years after the exposure. The longer a file sits, the more likely an attorney gets involved. One industry analysis found that 70% of attorneys enter a workers' comp claim more than a month after the first report of injury, often over disputes about medical care, and that represented claims take 2.1 times longer to close and cost 2.3 times more. A 2024 WCRI study of nearly a million claims found attorney involvement adds $7,700 to $12,400 in payments and increases expense payments by 200%.  

You can read the full article (on Blockbuster vs. Audicus) here.  The WCRI study cited is Impact of Attorney Representation on Workers’ Compensation Payments.  Visit its page on our website for more information on this topic!