How Long Does A Hearing Loss Claim Take?

There is no definitive timeframe for how long a hearing loss claim can take to settle. This is because claims are judged on their own merits, on a case-by-case basis. Additionally, there are a number of different factors that can influence the amount of time it takes for a claim to complete.

For example:

The severity of your hearing loss
The type of accident that you were involved in
Complexity of the case
Whether the third party accepts liability or disputes this
If your claim needs to be litigated (goes to court)

Our expert solicitors can help you navigate the claims process, and will work tirelessly to ensure that the process is as easy as possible. Additionally, they can provide a better estimate to help explore ‘How long does a hearing loss claim take?’.

Get in touch with our advisory team to learn more today.

Factors That Can Delay A Hearing Loss Claim

Factors that can delay a hearing loss claim include the availability of evidence and how long it takes to gather this, such as contacting witnesses for statements and also whether a medical assessment is needed.

Other factors that might delay a hearing loss claim include:

Disputing of liability: if the third party denies their liability, this can lead to discussions around who is responsible. Ultimately, delaying the process and sometimes requiring the need to attend court.
Severity or complexity of your injuries: if you sustain severe ear injuries that lead to hearing loss, professionals might want to explore medical records, arrange for further audiologist appointments and explore the seriousness of your injuries.
Litigation: if your case goes to court, this can massively delay a settlement. The court process can be complex, and timely and is not in either party’s interest.

If you instruct a solicitor from Advice, they will ensure you are at the centre of everything they do. Working round-the-clock to try and mitigate the need for your case to go to court; but even if it does reach this point, they have years of experience advocating for clients just like yourself.

Get in touch with us today to discuss what other factors might delay a hearing loss claim and explore ‘How long does a hearing loss claim take?’.

How To Speed Up The Hearing Loss Claims Process

You can speed up the hearing loss claims process by seeking medical attention and receiving a diagnosis as early as possible. Visiting an audiologist and seeking a formal diagnosis is a crucial step, firstly to ensure that you receive the appropriate help and treatment you need; secondly, it can help to act as essential evidence in your claim, as it displays the extent of your hearing loss.

Following this, you can begin gathering evidence. By collating medical records, incident details and contact details of anyone that could act as a witness, this can advance the timeframe of the claim. It can expedite the process as it ensures that you will have evidence ready for a solicitor to form a strong body with.

Finally, we would advise then getting in touch with legal representatives. Contacting a specialist solicitor, such as one of our No Win No Fee solicitors, can then provide you with expert advice. They can assess the validity of your claim, and handle all procedural complexities. Although it isn’t imperative that you have legal representation, it can greatly increase your chances of a successful claim. Our solicitors experienced, with years of education and knowledge in hearing loss claims.

Contact our advisors to be connected with a specialist solicitor today.

Time Limits For Making A Hearing Loss Claim

The time limits for making a hearing loss claim can be found under the Limitation Act 1980, which stipulates that most personal injury compensation claims must be brought within 3 years following the date of the incident that caused the hearing loss.

The time limits for medical negligence claims differs slightly; the 3 year time limit can run from either:

The date of the medical negligence
The date of knowledge – whereby you realised that subpar medical treatment led to your hearing loss

The distinction exists as sometimes the date that you realised that your injuries occurred following someone else’s negligent actions can be later than the date you received the treatment.

If you have any questions about whether your claim would fall within the time limits, you can get in touch with our advisors today.

What Are The Exceptions To The Hearing Loss Claim Time Limit?

There are two exceptions that apply to the hearing loss claim time limit. For example, for those who have experienced hearing loss under the age of 18 due to someone else’s negligent actions, their time limit will begin from the date of their 18th birthday, and run from 3 years of this date.

For claimants who are considered vulnerable adults, who lack the mental capacity to claim, will have their time limit suspended. This limitation period will only resume if a full recovery is made, and run from that date.

It is important to note here that a litigation friend can be used in both above scenarios where the person is unable to make their own claim. This is typically a trusted adult who can handle the claim on behalf of a claimant who is unable to. They can be appointed by the courts, or can apply to act in this role; which comes with a few responsibilities. For example, as a litigation friend you must act in the claimants best interests, and provide updates about the progression of their claim.

If you’d like to learn whether an exception may apply in your case, or if you can claim on behalf of someone else, please get in touch with us today.

Can I Make A Hearing Loss Claim?

Yes, you can make a hearing loss claim provided it can be shown that your hearing loss occurred due to someone else’s negligent actions. To satisfy this criteria, three things must be present:

A third party must have owed you a duty of care (this is a legal responsibility to ensure you reasonable health and safety)
They breached this duty
This breach resulted in your hearing loss

If these three factors can be demonstrated, you will have the basis to make a hearing loss claim.

Get in touch with our advisors today to explore whether you’d be eligible to make a personal injury claim with a specialist from Advice. Our advisory team can give you a free case consultation and can answer any questions you may have about your own potential claim.

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Examples Of How Hearing Loss Accidents Happen

There are many different ways in which an accident could lead to hearing loss, such as accidents at work, road traffic accidents and incidents of medical negligence; below we provide some examples of these types of accidents:

Accidents at work: if your employer fails to repair a piece of machinery that is known to be defective. The machinery then explodes during a malfunction, leading to acoustic shock resulting in permanent deafness in one ear.
Public liability accidents: whilst at a supermarket, you fail to notice a spillage that hasn’t been signposted or cordoned off. As a result, you slipped on this causing a severe head injury that leads to permanent hearing loss in one ear.
Road traffic accidents: another driver who was speeding crashed into the side of your car. This caused the airbag to go off, causing partial hearing loss from the impact.
Medical negligence: your GP fails to properly appreciate your concerns about an ear infection, meaning it remains untreated. The infection then causes permanent deafness in the affected ear.
Criminal injury: a perpetrator begins fighting with you in a pub car park. They punch you, causing a forceful blow to the head, this causes a traumatic brain injury and results in damage to the auditory nerve, leading to hearing loss.

These are not the only ways in which hearing loss can occur. If you’d like to discuss the particulars of your own claim, please get in touch with our advisors today. They will listen intently to the specifics of your own situation, and advise whether you’d have the basis to make a claim with us here at Advice.

Is There An Average Payout For Hearing Loss Claims?

The average payout for hearing loss claims can be calculated through combining payouts from a given year and dividing by the number of claimants. With this said, awards are based on individual circumstances, so it can sometimes be more beneficial to consider how compensation is valued.

In successful hearing loss claims, compensation can encompass two different heads of loss; these are referred to as general and special damages. General damages are compensation concerned with the physical and psychological impact of your hearing loss. This type of compensation can also consider any impact on your quality of life. These damages can be valued by considering frameworks such as the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) which is a document outlining guideline brackets of compensation for different injury types.

Conversely, special damages take into consideration any financial losses caused by your hearing loss; this might include things like medical expenses, costs of care or rehabilitative aids such as hearing aids and even lost income. You need evidence to claim these losses; which one of our solicitors could help you gather.

Below we have provided some figures taken from the JCG regarding hearing loss. Please be aware that the top entry has not come from the JCG, and these are guidelines only, not a guarantee of compensation.

Payouts for Hearing Loss Claims

Multiple Severe Injuries + Special Damages – various serious injuries as well as special damages such as lost income, rehabilitative aids or car adaptations – up to £1,000,000+
Total Deafness and Loss of Speech – where deafness has occurred at an early age causing an impact of the development of speech – £133,810 to £171,680
Total Deafness – the top end of the bracket will show both speech deficit and tinnitus – £110,750 to £133,810
Total Loss of Hearing in One Ear – the top end of the bracket will have associated problems like tinnitus, dizziness or headaches – £38,210 to £55,570
Partial Hearing Loss and/or Tinnitus (i) – severe tinnitus and noise-induced hearing loss – £36,260 to £55,570
Partial Hearing Loss and/or Tinnitus (ii) – moderate tinnitus and noise-induced hearing loss – £18,180 to £36,260
Partial Hearing Loss and/or Tinnitus (iii) – mild tinnitus with some noise-induced hearing loss – £15,370 to £18,180
Partial Hearing Loss and/or Tinnitus (iv) – mild tinnitus alone or mild noise-induced hearing loss alone – Around £14,300
Partial Hearing Loss and/or Tinnitus (v) – slight noise-induced hearing loss with occasional or slight tinnitus – £8,890 to £15,370

To see whether you may be eligible to claim compensation under general and special damages, you can contact our advisors.

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How To Make A Hearing Loss Claim

For you to make a hearing loss claim, you must possess evidence which proves how someone else’s negligent actions led to your injury. Evidence in hearing loss claims could include things such as:

Medical records: scans, copies of diagnoses from audiologists and copies of current prescriptions can be used to show the extent of the hearing loss.
A copy of the report in the accident book if your injury was sustained in an accident at work or in a public venue.
CCTV or dashcam footage if the accident was caught on camera
Any correspondence between yourself and a medical institution where you might’ve received treatment
The findings of an independent medical assessment, which we could help to arrange
Contact details of anyone who might’ve witnessed the incident, so a solicitor can later gather a witness statement
The contact information, insurance details and vehicle registration number if involved in an accident with another driver

Through instructing one of our solicitors, you wouldn’t have to worry about gathering this evidence alone. At a time where recovery should be your main focus, you wouldn’t have to do this alone; our solicitors can help arrange support as well as compiling this supporting evidence to strengthen your case.

Get in touch with us to learn more about what evidence would be useful in your own claim.

How Our Expert Hearing Loss Solicitors Can Help You Claim Compensation

Our expert hearing loss solicitors understand how mentally and physically stressful losing your hearing can be, especially due to the negligent actions of someone else. Therefore, they want to make the claims process as straightforward as possible for you. The services that they offer put your claim in the best position to succeed as well as reducing the stress that can often come with making a personal injury claim. Some of the services that they offer include:

Tailored Advice

Advising accordingly based on the specific circumstances of your hearing loss claim so that it is very clear what is needed from you. This will involve advising on what evidence to gather, such as assessments of the part of your ear that is damaged.

A Focus on Maximum Compensation

Our solicitors want nothing but the best for their clients who have put their trust in them. Hearing loss is something that can affect you for the rest of your life. Therefore, our solicitors will ensure that you receive compensation that will benefit you for as long as you need to pay for equipment such as hearing aid upgrades throughout the rest of your life.

Dedicated Continuous Support

As well as focusing on gaining you the most compensation as possible, they also want to ensure that stress and worry during this time is kept to a minimum. Some ways that they could reduce your worry include:

Organising further medical assessments and putting you in touch with specialists who may be able to recover your hearing.
Handling any legal documentation and carrying out any court proceedings
Explaining complex legal jargon and answering any questions that you may have.
Putting support and treatment in place such as sign language lessons
Contacting witnesses of your accident for a statement.

To ask “how long does a hearing loss claim take” when claiming with one of our solicitors, get in touch today.

Can Hearing Loss Be Claimed For On A No Win No Fee Basis?

Yes, hearing loss can be claimed for on a No Win No Fee basis when claiming with one of our experienced solicitors, who will offer you the chance to enter a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). Entering a CFA with one of our solicitors can significantly decrease the financial stress of beginning a legal process as it means that:

You do not have to worry about making upfront or ongoing payments for the work of your solicitor before or during the claims process.
No payment for your solicitor’s services if your claim proves to be unsuccessful
You will receive the majority of your compensation as a capped maximum of 25% will be deducted as a ‘success fee’

Being able to enter your agreement with one of our solicitors without having to worry about paying for the work of your solicitor out of your own savings makes the process accessible to anyone who has lost their hearing due to the fault of someone else.

To ask “how long does a hearing loss claim take” when made on a No Win No Fee Basis, contact one of our friendly advisors today.

Contact Advice

If you have any questions, such as ‘How long does a hearing loss claim take?’, you can contact our advisory team today. They can also assess the validity and strength of your claim, and connect you with a solicitor from Advice who specialises in hearing loss claims.

Call us on 0161 509 2856
Contact us by filling out our online form
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Additional Resources

Why not read our other guides about:

Our fatal accident case study
How to make a thumb injury compensation claim
Claim if you have suffered a burn injury
In cases involving acoustic shock, you may also be entitled to compensation for tinnitus.

External Resources

The government’s overview of Statutory Sick Pay
How to return to work following a period of sickness from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
NHS advice surrounding hearing loss

Thank you for reading our guide discussing how long does a hearing loss claim take.

Meet the Team

Gemma Shields

Chartered Legal Executive | Road Traffic Accident Claims Specialist

Gemma Shields is a CILEx qualified legal professional with over a decade of experience in road traffic accident claims, including pedestrian, cyclist and motorcyclist cases. She provides clear, compassionate legal support to clients across England and Wales.

Making A Hearing Loss Claim – How Long Does It Take To Settle?

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