Missouri Revised Statutes













Chapter 287

Workers' Compensation Law

←287.195

Section 287.197.1

287.200→

August 28, 2015

Occupational deafness--tests, claims, awards, liability of employer, effect of hearing aid.

287.197. 1. Losses of hearing due to industrial noise for compensation

purposes shall be confined to the frequencies of five hundred, one thousand,

and two thousand cycles per second. Loss of hearing ability for frequency

tones above two thousand cycles per second are not to be considered as

constituting disability for hearing.



2. The percent of hearing loss, for purposes of the determination of

compensation claims for occupational deafness, shall be calculated as the

average, in decibels, of the thresholds of hearing for the frequencies of

five hundred, one thousand, and two thousand cycles per second. Pure tone air

conduction audiometric instruments, approved by nationally recognized

authorities in this field, shall be used for measuring hearing loss. If the

losses of hearing average twenty-six decibels or less in the three

frequencies, such losses of hearing shall not then constitute any compensable

hearing disability. If the losses of hearing average ninety-two decibels or

more in the three frequencies, then the same shall constitute and be total or

one hundred percent compensable hearing loss. The decibel standards

established by this subsection are based on the most current ANSI occupational

hearing loss standard. The division shall, by rule, adopt any superseding

ANSI occupational hearing loss standards regarding testing frequencies and

decibel standards for measuring hearing loss.



3. There shall be payable as permanent partial disability for total

occupational deafness of one ear forty-nine weeks of compensation; for total

occupational deafness of both ears, one hundred eighty weeks of compensation;

and for partial occupational deafness in one or both ears, compensation shall

be paid for such periods as are proportionate to the relation which the

hearing loss bears to the amount provided in this subsection for total loss of

hearing in one or both ears, as the case may be. The amount of the hearing

loss shall be reduced by the average amount of hearing loss from

nonoccupational causes found in the population at any given age, according to

the provisions hereinafter set forth.



4. In measuring hearing disability, the lowest measured losses in each of

the three frequencies shall be added together and divided by three to

determine the average decibel loss. For every decibel of loss exceeding

twenty-six decibels an allowance of one and one-half percent shall be made up

to the maximum of one hundred percent which is reached at ninety-two decibels.



5. In determining the binaural (both ears) percentage of loss, the

percentage of disability in the better ear shall be multiplied by five. The

resulting figure shall be added to the percentage of disability in the poorer

ear and the sum of the two divided by six. The final percentage shall

represent the binaural hearing disability.



6. Before determining the percentage of hearing disability, in order to

allow for the average amount of hearing loss from nonoccupational causes

found in the population at any given age, there shall be deducted from the

total average decibel loss, one-half decibel for each year of the employee's

age over forty at the time of last exposure to industrial noise.



7. No claim for compensation for occupational deafness may be filed until

after one month's separation from the type of noisy work for the last

employer in whose employment the employee was at any time during such

employment exposed to harmful noise, and the last day of such period of

separation from the type of noisy work shall be the date of disability.



8. An employer shall become liable for the entire occupational deafness

to which his employment has contributed; but if previous deafness is

established by a hearing test or by other competent evidence, whether or not

the employee was exposed to noise within one month preceding such test, the

employer shall not be liable for previous loss so established nor shall he be

liable for any loss for which compensation has previously been paid or

awarded.



9. No consideration shall be given to the question of whether or not the

ability of an employee to understand speech is improved by the use of a

hearing aid.



(L. 1959 S.B. 167 § 287.202, A.L. 1967 p. 390, A.L. 1998 H.B. 1237,

et al., A.L. 2005 S.B. 1 & 130)





1998



1998



287.197. 1. Losses of hearing due to industrial noise for

compensation purposes shall be confined to the frequencies of five hundred,

one thousand, and two thousand cycles per second. Loss of hearing ability

for frequency tones above two thousand cycles per second are not to be

considered as constituting disability for hearing.



2. The percent of hearing loss, for purposes of the determination of

compensation claims for occupational deafness, shall be calculated as the

average, in decibels, of the thresholds of hearing for the frequencies of

five hundred, one thousand, and two thousand cycles per second. Pure tone

air conduction audiometric instruments, approved by nationally recognized

authorities in this field, shall be used for measuring hearing loss. If

the losses of hearing average fifteen decibels or less in the three

frequencies, such losses of hearing shall not then constitute any

compensable hearing disability. If the losses of hearing average

eighty-two decibels or more in the three frequencies, then the same shall

constitute and be total or one hundred percent compensable hearing loss.



3. There shall be payable as permanent partial disability for total

occupational deafness of one ear forty-nine weeks of compensation; for

total occupational deafness of both ears, one hundred eighty weeks of

compensation; and for partial occupational deafness in one or both ears,

compensation shall be paid for such periods as are proportionate to the

relation which the hearing loss bears to the amount provided in this

subsection for total loss of hearing in one or both ears, as the case may

be. The amount of the hearing loss shall be reduced by the average amount

of hearing loss from nonoccupational causes found in the population at any

given age, according to the provisions hereinafter set forth.



4. In measuring hearing impairment, the lowest measured losses in

each of the three frequencies shall be added together and divided by three

to determine the average decibel loss. For every decibel of loss exceeding

fifteen decibels an allowance of one and one-half percent shall be made up

to the maximum of one hundred percent which is reached at eighty-two

decibels.



5. In determining the binaural (both ears) percentage of loss, the

percentage of impairment in the better ear shall be multiplied by five.

The resulting figure shall be added to the percentage of impairment in the

poorer ear and the sum of the two divided by six. The final percentage

shall represent the binaural hearing impairment.



6. Before determining the percentage of hearing impairment, in order

to allow for the average amount of hearing loss from nonoccupational causes

found in the population at any given age, there shall be deducted from the

total average decibel loss, one-half decibel for each year of the

employee's age over forty at the time of last exposure to industrial noise.



7. No claim for compensation for occupational deafness may be filed

until after six months' separation from the type of noisy work for the last

employer in whose employment the employee was at any time during such

employment exposed to harmful noise, and the last day of such period of

separation from the type of noisy work shall be the date of disability.



8. An employer shall become liable for the entire occupational

deafness to which his employment has contributed; but if previous deafness

is established by a hearing test or by other competent evidence, whether or

not the employee was exposed to noise within six months preceding such

test, the employer shall not be liable for previous loss so established nor

shall he be liable for any loss for which compensation has previously been

paid or awarded.



9. No consideration shall be given to the question of whether or not

the ability of an employee to understand speech is improved by the use of a

hearing aid.



Top



Missouri General Assembly



Copyright © Missouri Legislature, all rights reserved.