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Forensic Acoustics and Audiology Litigation Case Examples

Case: Worker’s Compensation

A rail-road worker incurs a hearing loss on the job that the AMA formula represents as a 0% loss. Does this formula underestimate the degree of hearing loss?
A locomotive engineer suffers greater hearing loss after wearing hearing aids on the job. Would this have caused the change of hearing he experienced?
A plant worker incurs a hearing loss after working in a plant for nearly 30 years despite the fact that the plant has had an excellent hearing conservation program for the last 15 years. Was his loss, nevertheless, a work-related loss?

A retired Army colonel with a hearing loss is killed when a garbage truck backs up and strikes him. Was his service-related hearing loss a factor in the apparent inaudibility of the truck’s backup alarm?
A fire in a high-rise office building kills 6 people in a stairwell even though they called down to the security desk several times using the emergency phones. Why were security guards unable to hear the signals generated by these phones on their console?
A worker is crushed by a moving machine in a noisy plant. Should he have been able to hear the machine despite the background noise?
A 911 recording of a cell phone is difficult to understand yet its meaning is critical in the determination of wrong-doing in an auto accident. Can the recording be enhanced to create a vocal modulation chart that shows the likely phrases?
A snowmobiler is struck and killed by a train on a dark night even though the engineer was blowing his horn. Did the rider ignore the horn or did he not hear it?

Four rail-road workers suffer noise-induced hearing loss on the job. Using simulation software, what do these hearing impairments sound like?
A news reporter incurs a hearing loss while shooting at a police firing range despite the fact that she was wearing earmuffs. Was there a malfunction of the device or was it improperly fit?
A road worker is struck by a boom truck at a work site and injured. Why was he unable to hear the beeping alarm as the truck was moving?
A pilot in a small plane crashes and is seriously injured. Why was he unable to hear the stall alarm that is normally activated when the plane is in unstable flight?

A hospital contemplates terminating a hearing impaired nurse working in a pediatric ICU. What signals in such a work-setting would she be unable to hear?
A school rejects the requests of a parent with a hearing-impaired child for the school to acoustically treat his classroom. Would this treatment allow him “access” to his classroom?

A professional football player is accused of rape during an after-prom sleepover. Was it plausible for a teenager to hear the rape from a closed, second-floor bedroom?
A police search is initiated on probable cause based on what they heard a defendant say from outside her home. Wouldn’t the noise from the busy street outside her home have prevented the officers from actually hearing what she said?
A young deaf man is imprisoned after failing a sobriety test given verbally by a police officer on a dark street at night. Would a deaf person, despite wearing hearing aids, be able to understand the officer’s instructions?