industrial deafness

thebull

Hi everyone advice needed please .Around about 1992 I applied for industrial deafness compensation via my trade union which I was a member of at that time.My claim was sucsesfull and i was awarded a cash settlement.
Before I left the testing center the consultant who carried out the hearing test advised me that I would be eligable for a pension along with the cash compensation .Been onl 40 at the time I did not make any attempt to claim for a pension as I thought pensions were for retired people only {silly I know ).
I am now thinking of trying to apply for industrial deafness my problem been now that no one seems to have a record of my industrial deafness claim that I made back in the 90s and I have now worked in "quiet " positions for the past ten years .
Would the Jobcenter people be able to trace my past claim better than I have been able too? I have contacted my previous union employer and even the center where I was tested but due to the length of time gone by no one seems to have a record of it .
Any advice welcome ........Thank you .

GlasweJen

I didn't want to read and run but I have no idea how you would find this out, you didn't happen to give any of the documentation into your doctor by any chance?

sunnyone

This was answered in the first thread you posted on this subject

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3011666=

And hasnt the story totally change lol.

thebull

sunnyone please explain what you mean by " the story has changed "

thebull

Anyone any advice on this please.
this invitation precludes sunnyone

Hear-Hear

As sunnyone says, you asked this question back in January (as per the link provided in post #3 above). A response was provided. You now ask the same question again in May, starting a different thread. This is not be encouraged on MSE for obvious reasons. Anyway, here's a copy and paste of the answer given to you in January ..... "If you mean an industrial injury pension, you cant because you would need to be assessed at the time and not 20 years later since hearing loss is a common sign of ageing".

Doubtful_Guest

I don't know anything about industrial injury pensions so I can't offer any advice about that.

However, I used to be an audiologist and I can assure you that Hear Hear and Sunnyone are wrong in saying that a hearing loss now can't be identified as noise-induced or due to aging.

That's simply not true. A noise-induced hearing loss results in a very distinctive pattern - a dip at 4kHz. This is different from age-related hearing loss which is a high frequency loss with no 'recovery' at higher frequencies. Sometimes if someone had a severe age-related hearing loss as well, it could 'mask' a noise-induced one but that's not very likely if he's only in his early 60s.

I don't know anything about entitlements or compensation but I do know that I had patients in their 70s and 80s come in to see me for a hearing test and I could tell very quickly that they had some hearing loss from some previous noise exposure and not simply because of aging. The difficulty might be in demonstrating what has caused the noise damage. It might be argued that you could conceivably have damaged your hearing over the last 20 years through hobbies (woodworking ? shooting ? heavy metal concerts ?) and not through your old job. You can't tell what kind of noise caused the damage.

Doubtful_Guest

Also, is this of any use ?

http://www.patient.co.uk/health/Industrial-Injuries-Disablement-Benefit.htm

Hear-Hear

You are missing the point, DG. No-one has said that "a hearing loss now can't be identified as noise-induced or due to aging". You are indeed pointing in the right direction that noise-induced loss and age-releted loss can be indicated from an audiogram, but then you seem to assume that they are mutually exclusive. They are most certainly not mutually exclusive, as you should full well know :doh: .

What sunnyone has pointed out is that a gap of 20 years introduces the ageing aspect on hearing acuity. That makes a claim relatively easy to reject, and on that basis, is unlikely to be successful.

What I pointed out was that the OP originally posed the question in January, didn't like the answer, and seems to have re-posted again in the hope of raising his hopes ? Mind you, it all seems a bit odd that OP hasn't actually put in a claim over the months he has actually been mulling it over. At least he would have his answer once and for all :j .

Doubtful_Guest

Of course they're not mutually exclusive. I'm just saying that the passage of 20 years doesn't necessarily mean the the noise induced hearing loss won't still be obvious and apparent if he went for a hearing test now. It might be masked by an age-related one but unlikely given his age. If he had a walloping great 4kHz dip at aged 30 then that will still be pretty obvious at 60. A normal age-related decline would be very mild and make very little difference to the overall picture.

On the other hand, he may be a chancer trying his luck, in which case, I'm sure he'll get caught out.