Abstract

Background: In the current COVID-19 climate, a face to face (F2F) ear nose and throat examination is not possible. ENTs are among the highest risk specialties for the infection. The majority of physicians involved in medicolegal examinations lie in the vulnerable status. Some claimants may need early access to funds in the current situation. Methodology is provided to invoke the available epidemiological data to inform insurance payment decisions.

Methods: Predictions of ISO (2013) for noise‐induced threshold shifts can be used in calculating the noise‐induced threshold shifts. The 90 percentile figures are used. Methodology for Australia is detailed. Other jurisdictions can modify the methodology as appropriate.

Results: The possibility of a mathematical model is highlighted.

Conclusion: Given a worker's occupational noise exposure history, the methodology can estimate the expected contributions of noise and can replace the audio-clinical examination entirely.

Keywords: Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL); COVID-19

References

1. Guidance regarding the levels of noise to be expected in various industries obtained from National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Ohio, USA (1972).
2. Seltsam Pty Ltd v Mcguiness and another; James Hardie & Coy Pty Ltd v Mcguiness and another [2000] NSWCA 29 re: epidemiological data; Reay v British Nuclear Fuels (1994) 5 Med LR 2; US Federal Judicial Centre. Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence (1994), chapter on “Reference Guide on Epidemiology” at 122-192.
3. ISO 1999: 2013 Means for Noise Induced Permanent Threshold Shifts, 85, 90 95, 100 dB(A) International Organization for Standardization. Geneva.
4. 1988 and 1974 NAL Tables, Commonwealth of Australia.
5. Dobie RA. “Is This STS Work-Related? ISO 1999 Predictions as an Adjunct to Clinical Judgement”. American Journal of Industrial Medicine12 (2015): 1311-1318.
6. NSW Workcover Guides for the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment.
7. Wigner E. “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences”. Communications in Pure and Applied Mathematics1 (1960).

Citation

Citation: Sylvester Fernandes and Ryelen Fernandes. “The Medicolegal Assessment of Noise Induced Hearing Loss Avoiding an ENT Face to Face Exam in the COVID 19 Climate". Acta Scientific Otolaryngology 2.10 (2020): 07-11.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Sylvester Fernandes and Ryelen Fernandes. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.