Have you suffered hearing loss working offshore or on vessels? What is Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) under maritime law and the Jones Act? How do you know if you’ve suffered hearing loss due to being around loud equipment for years at a time working offshore or on a vessel?
That’s a question that a lot of potential clients ask us. How do I know if my hearing loss is due to the heavy equipment and the loud equipment I worked around?
Well, there is a very simple and very short test that can be done that will determine that. This is called an audiological evaluation. The pattern in your audiological evaluation will generally tell you whether or not your hearing loss is related to the loud noises that you worked around offshore or on vessels. This is a very simple, very short test that our office can arrange for you
If you work in a maritime environment, you’re probably working around equipment that can cause hearing loss damage. What happens around this heavy equipment is the noise is so loud that it actually damages your hearing over time. I want to give you some examples of the equipment you may workaround which may be damaging your hearing. If you’ve worked for years in the past offshore or on vessels, chances are you were exposed to loud noise with this type of equipment. Now, on an oil rig, you’re going to have the rig floor which is extremely loud. People working on the rig floor for years at a time are likely to have suffered some type of hearing loss. If you’re on a vessel, you may be in the engine room or you may be working around generators. Both of those areas, if you’re working in those areas, you could have suffered hearing loss because of that loud equipment.
Regular traffic is about 85 decibels. If you’re working on an oil rig or on a vessel, chances are you’re around equipment that is a lot louder than regular traffic and the experts will tell you, that noise levels at about 85 decibels can start to cause damage to your hearing.
Call us if you have any questions about the equipment that you’ve worked around in the past. If you suspect you’ve suffered hearing loss because of the heavy equipment you’ve worked around on oil rigs or vessels, we can arrange for a free, simple test that will determine if you’ve suffered hearing loss. Call our maritime lawyers today.
