Sue Brown

This Practice Note deals with factors relevant to the level of general damages awarded in noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) claims such as the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG), comparable previous court decisions and the extent of the hearing loss. It also considers specific heads of special damages that are often appropriate in these cases, the disablement benefit a claimant may be able to claim in respect of hearing loss and/or tinnitus and other compensation schemes a claimant may be able to claim under.

This Practice Note provides an overview of the key features of the Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Employers’ Liability and Public Liability claims (EL/PL protocol) together with practical guidance on using the claims portal.

This Practice Note provides an overview of the key features of the Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Employers’ Liability and Public Liability claims (EL/PL protocol) together with practical guidance on using the claims portal.

This Practice Note considers guidelines which are used to assess noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) in particular guidelines published in 2000 to identify or diagnose NIHL and further guidelines published by the same authors in 2016 to provide a basis to quantify the amount of NIHL. It also briefly considers the 2022 guidelines which have reviewed the methods for the diagnosis and quantification of NIHL.

This Practice Note covers limitation in noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) cases. It considers limitation issues that frequently arise in NIHL claims including calculating the claimant’s ‘date of knowledge’ for the purposes of section 14 of the Limitation Act 1980, causation, tinnitus, case law and the discretionary exception to limitation under section 33 of the Limitation Act 1980.

This Practice Note outlines the background and development of Medco and provides guidance on obtaining medical reports in soft tissue injury and whiplash injury claims.

This Practice Note aims to provide an overview of the key features of the Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims in Road Traffic Accidents (RTA protocol) together with practical guidance on using the claims portal.

This Practice Note aims to provide a practical overview of the key features of Stage 2 and 3 of the Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims in Road Traffic Accidents together with a review of the most significant case law and their practical implications for those using the online portal.

This Practice Note covers developments in the law relating to noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) in the workplace. It covers defined periods since 1963 when NIHL was first recognised as a problem and the relevant legislation and case law.

Air conduction (AC)The transmission of sound through the outer and middle ear to the inner ear. The standard audiogram is measuring air conduction.Age-associated hearing loss (AAHL)Also called presbycusis, age-associated hearing loss is primarily related to age and usually affects both ears equally.Air-bone gap (ABG)The figure arrived at by deducting the HTL given by the bone conduction reading from that given by the air conduction reading.AudiogramA pure tone audiogram is a chart of a person’s hearing threshold levels for pure tones at different frequencies, showing loss as a function of frequency, measured using an audiometer.AudiometerPure tone audiometer—an electroacoustical instrument. For air conduction measurements the audiometer uses a headset with two earphones which provides pure tones of specified frequencies at known sound pressure levels, used to determine hearing threshold levels, one ear at a time. To measure bone conduction the audiometer is also equipped with a bone vibrator.Manual audiometer—an audiometer where the signal presentations, frequency and hearing level selection, and noting the subject’s responses,

This Practice Note outlines how to read audiograms and the basic principles of occupational noise relevant to noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) claims. An audiogram is a graph showing the sounds a person can hear and is used in NIHL claims to measure the claimant’s hearing ability.

This Practice Note provides guidance on tracing defendants and insurers in noise-induced hearing loss claims. It covers obtaining a claimant’s employment history from HMRC and various other resources that can assist in tracing defendants and insurers including a Companies House search.