Tinnitus And Hearing Loss Attorney
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Tinnitus can be a tragically disabling condition, leading to permanent loss of many previously enjoyable activities, such as reading a book in peace and quiet, sitting still with a loved one, having any quiet time, or even sleeping. I consider severe cases of tinnitus to be very serious injuries. So, as a tinnitus and hearing loss attorney, I wanted to share potential causes of tinnitus or hearing loss, how tinnitus and hearing loss injuries affect the lives of those who suffer, along with how to prove the injuries in a tinnitus or hearing loss lawsuit.
What Is Tinnitus?
Tinnitus is a perception of sound in the ear, when there is no actual sound source. These sounds are caused by damage to hairs in the inner ear known as cilia. This damage causes the cilia not to send signals of silence to the brain, as they normally should. People describe tinnitus in various ways, including crickets, birds chirping, various insect sounds, ringing, hissing, static, screeching, sirens, whooshing, roaring, pulsing, ocean waves, buzzing, clicking, dial tones and other sounds. You may have some or all of these sounds, or varying sounds depending the day. You may also hear “feedback” type of sounds.
Symptoms of Tinnitus
The volume of the sounds of tinnitus may vary from mildly irritating to unbearably bothersome. The sounds may also be constant, or come and go. If the volume or frequency is significant, many tinnitus sufferers also experience fatigue, stress, sleep problems, trouble concentrating, memory problems, difficulty reading, problems with social interaction, depression, anxiety and irritability. These horrible “side effects” can be completely debilitating if the tinnitus is severe.
Problems With Tinnitus Lawsuits & How Best To Handle Them
Most tinnitus or hearing loss cases should be handled as serious injury cases, which means exceptional attention to detail is required, and familiarity with tinnitus proves very useful.
Tinnitus Is An Invisible Disability, Which Complicates Telling Your Story
Perhaps the biggest challenge in a tinnitus or hearing loss case is communicating the severity of the loss to any jury. Most jurors, unless they have suffered from tinnitus themselves, or have a close friend or family member who has, have no idea what a person who has tinnitus is hearing. Even worse, they can’t see any injury (as the person may look just fine), and the speech of the victim may or may not be impacted, or may only be impacted to a slight degree. So, for the most part, a tinnitus victim may walk and talk just fine. If a jury sees a person who isn’t visibly injured, they may not be convinced that the injury is serious. So your tinnitus or hearing loss injury lawyer must find creative ways to tell your story, so that the jury can feel your loss as much as possible. In addition to creativity and intelligence, this requires a strong commitment to helping you through what can be a time-consuming process of maximizing the value of your tinnitus injury case. Bottom line: your hearing loss injury lawyer should be telling you everything you can do to help increase the value of your case.
Proving Causation Also A Challenge In Tinnitus Lawsuits
In any injury lawsuit, lawyers must prove that the accident “more likely than not” caused the person’s injuries, and caused the extent of the pain and suffering. Proving causation is a very big deal in all injury cases. Obtaining proof is more difficult when there might be other causes, or when there was a pre-existing similar condition.
With tinnitus, there are many potential causes, including age-related hearing loss, working around loud noises, hobbies that involve loud noises, various vascular problems, aneurysms, tumors, or accidents that involved head trauma or sudden exposure to a very loud noise. Defense attorneys nearly always attack causation in any type of injury case. So the many potential causes of tinnitus give them ammunition to argue that any particular accident did not cause the tinnitus.
Your tinnitus attorney can overcome these arguments more easily if you had sudden onset tinnitus after the accident or noise exposure, particularly noticeable, extreme onset within 48 hours of the accident. If the development of the tinnitus was more gradual, proof becomes more difficult, but still can be done. In more gradual onset tinnitus, your past records and experiences still may help. For example, your past medical records, and past family records, may show that you had no prior hearing related issues, no vascular issues, and no family history that might have caused you to inherit conditions causing tinnitus. Additionally, the type of sound may help identify the cause. For instance, clicking is often caused by muscle contractions (which may or may not have been caused by head trauma), rushing, humming or heartbeat sounds are often caused by vascular issues, or other medical problems, and low-pitched ringing may be caused by Meniere’s disease. However, high-pitched ringing or buzzing is often caused by exposure to a very loud noise, or blow to the ear. If there is also hearing loss, then tinnitus may be permanent. To further complicate matters, high pitched ringing may also be caused by long-term noise exposure, age-related hearing loss, medications or acoustic neuroma. Regardless, your tinnitus attorney absolutely must prove that the accident, or medication exposure, caused your tinnitus.
There are many creative ways for your tinnitus attorney to prove that your accident caused tinnitus, including:
- the date of onset in relation to the accident,
- type of sounds you hear,
- If tinnitus likely caused by head trauma: type and location of head injury sustained, what hit your head, location of head pains, speed of object hitting you, and direction of impact,
- If tinnitus caused by loud noise exposure: distance from you, and decibel level, of any loud sound you heard, particularly within 48 hours of onset,
- date of tinnitus diagnosis (soon after the accident is best),
- treating physician opinion regarding cause of tinnitus,
- independent medical doctor opinion,
- all of your prior medical records, for your whole life, showing no pre-existing condition,
- military records (if needed to prove, hopefully, that you worked in an office, rather than around artillery),
- family medical history (to disprove genetic cause of ear disease),
- employment records and job descriptions for all current and prior jobs (again to prove non-exposure to loud noises), and
- a list of your hobbies and interests (a hunter would have difficulty with causation, for example).
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How Tinnitus Victims Can Help Enhance Related Lawsuit Damages
For starters, if you have not told your doctor about your condition, and been diagnosed with tinnitus, and tested by an audiologist for tinnitus (not just hearing loss), then that should be your first order of business. Your attorney cannot prove your case without medical records showing your complaints and diagnosis. Ideally, you went as soon as possible after the accident or noise exposure. Days and definitely weeks matter. So call now and schedule the earliest possible appointment with an otolaryngologist, also known as an “ENT” (for “ear, nose, and throat,”) and an audiologist. Often ENTs have audiologists working in their offices, so the first step should be visiting an ENT.
During audiological exams, you’ll sit in a soundproof room wearing headphones. The doctor will play specific sounds for one ear at a time. You’ll say when you hear the sound. These results will be compared to what is normal for your age. One frustration is that those who also have hearing loss may not be able to hear the sounds of tinnitus, thus making it difficult to communicate what they are hearing. In those cases, your description of the sound, and volume, is the best alternative.
Additionally, you should go to the American Tinnitus Association website, and listen to the sounds of tinnitus. (Please follow their instructions regarding keeping the volume low, so as not to be too irritating). Note whether each different type of sound is similar to what you hear, as well as the volume of the sound you experience as a result of your tinnitus, on a scale of 1 to 10. Communicate this information to your hearing loss attorney. This will help her communicate the degree of your loss to the insurance company, the corporate defendant, or any future jury. It will also help her understand your suffering more as well.
Additionally, joining the American Tinnitus Association as an individual would be helpful. (As of the time of this writing, individual membership is $40 per year. Unfortunately your hearing loss attorney is not permitted to pay this fee for you.) Once you join, you will receive monthly newsletter discussing the latest treatment options. You would be well-advised to read each issue, cover-to-cover, and explore any and all potentially promising treatments for your condition. You see, juries tend to reward those who are doing everything possible to help themselves. Although tinnitus may be a permanent condition, still exploring any options for improvement would be the best thing for your legal tinnitus case. In addition to pursuing any and all potential treatments (including holistic treatments and physicians, if there are any near you), you should also keep a record of those treatments you try at home, and notify your hearing loss lawyer of any physicians or other medical practitioners you visit.
The American Tinnitus Association will also send you a workbook, as part of your membership. This workbook is intended to help you manage tinnitus. You should work through the workbook, entirely, and save the book and any related notes. Again, doing this work would help your tinnitus lawyer prove your injuries, as well as everything you have done to help yourself get better. The association also makes available a library of soothing sounds, which you may find helpful, as well as area support groups. You should attempt to listen to the soothing sound library, and take notes of helpful or unhelpful effects. Finally, if there is a support group in your area, you should join and participate as much as possible.
Accident-Related Causes Of Tinnitus
Many things may cause varying degrees of hearing loss or tinnitus. Some of those events might be the fault of another person or entity. If that is true for your tinnitus, then you definitely should consult a hearing / sensory loss or tinnitus attorney. I have experience working on this type of case, so can answer any questions you might have about whether any other party might be responsible for causing your loss.
Just a few of many examples of possible causes of hearing loss or tinnitus, which may lead to viable sensory loss lawsuits, are:
- Explosions;
- Air bag deployment during an auto accident;
- Any impact that causes injury to the head or neck, and impacts the ear, such as auto accidents, slip and fall accidents, work injuries, or the like;
- Any accident that causes a foreign object to lodge into the ear canal;
- Any accident caused by extremely loud sounds, such as ultra-loud whistles, heavy equipment or machinery, chain saws, appliances, air bags, fire arms, portable music devices, or other very loud sounds;
- Cardiovascular disease caused by medical malpractice (misdiagnosis of heart disease);
- Loud factory work;
- Loud construction work;
- Certain medications that are toxic to the ear; or
- Loud speakers or concerts, which may impair those working around the music industry.
Generally, doctors who diagnose hearing loss and tinnitus know within a few weeks whether and to what extent you have permanent hearing loss.
The most common cause of tinnitus is excessive noise, generally considered sounds above 85 decibels. This noise can destroy the hair cells in the inner ear, known as cilia. If those are destroyed, there is not yet treatment for regeneration. But there are treatments that may help you manage tinnitus, and those should be fully explored if you are involved in a tinnitus lawsuit.
Can You Sue Someone For Causing Your Tinnitus?
The possible at-fault party in any hearing, sensory loss, or tinnitus case will vary. There may be no one to blame. But, depending on what exactly triggered your tinnitus, a lawsuit for your tinnitus is definitely worth exploring. Those who might owe you compensation during a tinnitus or hearing / sensory loss case include product manufacturers, people using equipment that is insured via homeowners’ insurance, auto insurance if the injury happened during a car accident, or other insurance depending on the accident.
Pending Tinnitus Lawsuit
I am involved in a case right now involving an extremely loud outdoor whistle, used during a sporting event, for which we believe the insurance companies involved in the sporting events should be held accountable. That case is pending as of the date of the publication of this article. I can’t say more due to confidentiality, except to say that we believe the case involves very serious injuries. Also, I believe it is critically important that you work with an attorney who has experience handling this very unique injury, or someone you are sure will take the time to learn the symptoms, and challenges. Otherwise, they very well may not grasp the extent of your suffering (which is a story they need to tell, and which impacts your possible damages). They may also not realize the possible challenges, so be ill-prepared to meet them without extensive study.
I am available to help you determine whether your tinnitus or hearing loss case might justify a lawsuit. You will speak with me if you call, not a paralegal or layers of case managers or investigators. I am licensed in Florida and Georgia.
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