While everyone knows car and truck accidents cause obvious injuries like broken bones and serious lacerations, other injuries aren’t so obvious to anyone except the victim. Hearing loss is one of those injuries, and it can be severe and permanent. Those who lose their hearing after an auto accident often wonder whether they can be compensated for it.
How Can a Car or Truck Accident Cause Hearing Loss?
When someone loses their hearing in a Texas auto accident, it’s most often due to head trauma, whiplash or airbag deployment. Symptoms to watch for include:
- Dizziness
- Balance problems
- Muffled hearing
- Ringing in the ears (tinnitus)
- Pain, itching or burning sensations in the ears
- Pressure or a feeling of fullness in one or both ears
- General discomfort in your ears
Initially you may not realize that these symptoms are related to hearing loss. You might think they’re related to other trauma you suffered, and indeed they may be. But, you should tell your doctor about these symptoms so the doctor can more closely examine your inner ears and diagnose any problems.
Types of Ear Injuries From Auto Accidents
Hearing loss can result from a variety of underlying issues caused by your crash. If you have symptoms of hearing loss, it could indicate that you’re suffering from:
- Ruptured eardrum: This is a tear or hole in the tissue between the eardrum and ear canal. It’s also called a perforated eardrum or tympanic membrane perforation. It can heal itself in some cases, but in others it may require medical attention.
- Damaged membranes and tissues in the inner ear: Physical trauma can damage parts of the inner ear, leading to hearing loss.
- Damaged ossicles in the middle ear: Ossicles are small bones in the middle of your ear that transmit vibrations to help you hear. Like larger bones, they can fracture in a crash.
- Lack of blood flow to the cochlea: The cochlea is an inner ear bone that turns sound waves into electrical impulses that are processed by your brain to provide the sensation of sound. Lack of blood to these bones can cause hearing loss.
- Deafness: Whether due to the loud sounds of an impact or due to other injuries in the head and neck, you could be left totally or partially deaf, potentially for years or forever.
Getting Compensation for Ear Injuries and Hearing Loss
Yes, you can recover compensation if you lose your hearing in an auto accident in Texas. You can receive compensation for medical expenses, emotional distress, loss of earning capacity and other harms that you suffer because of the hearing loss.
You and your lawyer will need to provide evidence to prove that the crash caused your hearing loss. This can be done by providing medical records and statements from your doctor. The doctor can also testify about how much hearing you lost, the treatments you need, how long the damage might last, and more.
Talk to a Texas Auto Accident Lawyer About Hearing Loss
The attorneys of Ted B. Lyon & Associates in Dallas have successfully helped numerous clients get full compensation for ear injuries and hearing loss sustained in car and truck wrecks. If you’re in East Texas and would like to speak with a lawyer about your accident, please call 877-Ted-Lyon / 877-833-5966 or contact us online. Your initial consultation is free and there is no obligation to hire us.
