Half of all people with hearing loss are workers aged 15 to 64 years.
Unrecognised and untreated hearing loss has been shown to be linked to poorer health, reduced social interactions, social isolation and poorer mental health. However, in people with a hearing loss, early treatment has been shown to benefit overall health and quality of life including social interactions, mobility, and mental health. However, delaying treatment makes it harder to recover these functions.
Last year some reforms to NSW Workers Compensation came into effect. The changes may affect people with hearing loss resulting from a workplace injury. There are around 18,000 people with existing claims that could benefit from these new reforms. For example, if you have been provided with hearing aids in the past as the result of a Worker’s Compensation claim, you may now be entitled to additional support and compensation for your hearing aid.
If you think you have workplace injury that has affected your hearing then it is important to act promptly. Contact the Jervis Bay Hearing Centre for more information and assistance.
We can help you with:
- Accessing the Compensation process
- Supporting you through the process
- Fitting of hearing aids funded through the Workers Compensation process
- Maintenance of your Workers Compensation hearing aids.
- Assessment of your hearing and hearing aid performance.
We liaise with our workers compensation team to offer you this service at no cost to you.
Protecting your hearing in the Workplace
Hearing is precious and fragile, so it’s important to protect your hearing in the workplace. The work environment is a common source of incidents and events that can adversely affect your hearing. If you require specialist advice about protecting your hearing in the workplace, we can offer advice and solutions tailored to your particular work environment.
Protecting your hearing involves wearing muffs or plugs in the presence of noise. Noise can be produced by many sources. Common sources include shooting, power tools, machinery and amplified music. One tip, is to pop your hearing protection on before you are exposed to the noise. The louder the noise source means you will do damage quicker than softer noise. This means that for loud noise sources the time it takes to do damage is much less than for (relatively speaking) softer noise sources.
When you are exposed to noise regularly, its a good idea to review your hearing annually. When you have a hearing test take time out from noise at least 8 hours prior to your hearing test.
We can help you by;
- Advise around managing your exposure
- Customised hearing protection (plugs) for musicians or workers
- Monitoring your hearing
- Managing strategies in the workplace to minimise damage.
Minimise damage with good pro-active management. We are here to help you.
