Newly published research from Scandinavia reveals that that there is a higher risk of individuals becoming dependent on incapacity benefit amongst those with a hearing loss related diagnosis than other types of illnesses.

A 12 year study following nearly 50,000 volunteer patients after an illness in their first year found, that of those who were ill with a hearing damage diagnosis, over a third later become disability pensioners, contrasting with just a quarter of the remainder of the control group. It was further revealed that women with hearing impairment were especially at risk of disability benefit dependency.

Ten million people in the UK – one sixth of the population – have a hearing problem, of whom, more than 800,000 suffer with severe or industrial deafness, and over 55 per cent are aged over 60. Estimates for self-reported hearing loss by those who worked in 2008/09, are by contrast, extremely low, at 17, 000.

This was still above the official Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) figures estimated from a 10 per cent sample of their records, which showed that only a total of 14,000 people were receiving disablement benefit for occupational deafness in March 2001.

The widely differing figures are attributed to the many sufferers of noise induced hearing loss who did not meet the DWP eligibility to receive for benefit. For all claims lodged after 1 October 1986 under the Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit scheme (IIDB), a substantial hearing loss equating to 20 per cent disability of at least 50 decibels must be apparent in both ears and the worker must have been employed for a minimum of ten years in excessive noise level environments.

A new method of collecting claims and assessment statistics was introduced by DWP In April 2002, aiming to make the data more accurate, including cases where the assessment results in “0%” disability are recorded, i.e. where the condition is accepted but where there is no loss of faculty.

However, a majority of the total figures accounted for, include deafness, as well as lung diseases, where many cases arose as a result of past working conditions now deemed unacceptable, or in some cases, illegal by current legislation and workplace standards.

The Scandinavian research has yet to determine if the risk of future incapacity disablement dependency can be analysed further according to occupation.