Hearing loss can strike at any time, often at the wrong time. For certain working positions that involve listening to others or jobs that depend on hearing abilities, this can make earning a basic income difficult. Not to mention, medical check-ups, tests, and treatments for hearing loss can drain your financial assets rapidly. Not having a job while dealing with medical expenses like these can make people feel hopeless. However, you may be able to make up for your lost income through disability benefits by talking with a Pennsylvania disability lawyer about what steps you can take. 

How Hearing Loss Affects Job Performance

Hearing loss has impacted nearly 37 million people in the United States and primarily affects people between the ages of 55 to 64 as this condition increases with age. Many people seek cochlear implantation surgeries to fix their hearing difficulties, but these procedures are often expensive, and you may be wondering if you can still be eligible for disability benefits with this device. The good news is, you can.

Since hearing loss is expensive to manage and the cochlear implantation alone costs up to $125,000, many people with this condition seek financial aid through disability insurance. Disability insurance programs are provided by the Social Security Administration (SSA), which lists eligible disabilities in the Blue Book. Hearing loss is listed under the Special Senses and Speech Adult category. 

You may be shocked to find out about this, but it is not uncommon for people with hearing loss to be let go from jobs they have worked for decades. If hearing loss impairs work performance enough, companies and businesses will fire employees. Common examples of impaired work performance include not being able to communicate effectively with co-workers and production workers not being able to hear co-workers over loud machinery. 

Qualifying for Disability Benefits with Hearing Loss

At this point, you are likely wondering what it takes to qualify for these disability insurance programs. When it comes to disability benefits for hearing loss, you will need to provide medical evidence of your condition and details on your work history. To start, you will need to submit results from an otologic exam and audiometric test. 

These medical procedures should be done within at least two months of each other. Depending on whether you have a cochlear implant, you might also be asked to undergo speech reception threshold testing, word recognition testing, pure tone air conduction, bone conduction testing, and an otoscopic exam. You should also talk with the examiner or primary doctor about how this affects your work performance so this can be recorded in your medical record. 

Disability Lawyer in Pennsylvania 

Collecting evidence for a disability benefits claim is not always a smooth process. Talk to a Pennsylvania delayed insurance benefits lawyer if you have encountered complications from the SSA with your application. Call Edelstein & Nelson at 800-887-4529 today for a consultation. One of our disability insurance lawyers will look over your claim and figure out what else you might need to have your application accepted.