Hearing impairment is a type of injury that can occur due to a variety of reasons, including disease and trauma. For cases involving trauma to the ear or head, a person may suffer partial loss of hearing or complete loss of hearing in one or both ears. When a person suffers this type of injury, the entire course of their life is shifted as a result.
The human balance system, known as the vestibular system, works together with the eyes, inner ear, and other sensory systems to successfully help a person to walk, run, or even stand without falling over. Without the function of a person's inner ear, their balance may be thrown off, causing further injuries in some instances. According to a study by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, the number of hearing loss victims has doubled between the 30 years of 1971 and 2000, increasing from approximately 13.2 million to 28.6 million.
There are many different causes to hearing loss, including cases of sudden deafness where a person loses their hearing over a very short period of time. Among these causes, many researchers believe that noise exposure can contribute to hearing loss, as an estimated 30 million Americans are exposed to dangerous sound levels. Additionally, an explosion can cause enough sound and turbulence for a person to suffer loss of hearing injuries. At many offshore locations, the seamen aboard a vessel or oil platform are at risk to explosions and fires on a daily basis with the large amount of gas and oil reserves on the platform and under the ocean surface.
Under maritime law and the Jones Act, you have rights to pursue financial compensation for maintenance and cure if you have suffered any type of injury at an offshore job site. Offshore locations are often extremely dangerous for a worker and one minute mistake can lead to serious injury or wrongful death for one or multiple individuals. Arnold & Itkin LLP works specifically with injury victims of offshore accidents and has recovered billions of dollars through their outstanding efforts to help the injured. If you would like to pursue compensation for the loss of hearing injury that you have sustained, let the team help you understand your rights under general maritime law.
Arnold & Itkin represented nearly a third of the crewmembers injured in the Deepwater Horizon explosion.
Because maritime law is so complex and so complicated, it is crucial that you work with an attorney who has an in-depth understanding of how it works and who has proven themselves in similar cases before.
