Traffic accidents on a Los Angeles Boulevard create plenty of broken glass and crumpled fenders, but they also create a frightening amount of noise. Two cars colliding at high speeds creates a very loud crash, and if you’re in one of those vehicles, those impacts could damage your ears.
Even the intense sound of your airbags inflating is loud enough to cause hearing loss and ear pain. Victims can also rupture an eardrum in a noisy work environment or in the mayhem of a theme park ride.
Victims of these sometimes permanent injuries must hold those responsible for causing ear damage accountable. Those guilty drivers, business owners, and employers should provide full support for the costs of their medical care and the expense of a life lived with a potential permanent disability.
Schedule a Free Consultation with a Los Angeles Hearing Loss Injury Lawyer
When someone’s negligence exposes your ears to extreme forces, it’s critical that you earn enough in compensation to support you and your family through healing. And if a hearing impairment or hearing loss becomes permanent, compensation should be provided over a lifetime.
Contact Maison Law to schedule a free case consultation and learn what your ear injury is worth. Find out how to make sure you receive the most from your hearing loss claim. A Los Angeles Hearing Loss Lawyer works to secure enough support to pay for the best care while leaving you with the money you need to rebuild your life.
Hearing Loss Dangers in Los Angeles Accidents
Loud equipment on the job or a loud noise or burst of air anywhere you happen to be can damage your inner ear. The cochlea is a hollow, spiral-shaped bone that houses small hairlike nerves called stereocilia. These parts of the inner ear are critical to your ability to hear clearly. Once these nerves are damaged, they don’t grow back. This loss can lead to lifelong hearing impairment.
The ear-splitting racket of a traffic crash can also damage an eardrum, also known as the tympanic membrane. However, the blunt force trauma of a head injury in a collision could also spark ear damage.
Whiplash can send the head and neck back and forth quickly. The brain can collide with the interior of the skull. This motion could cause an inner-ear concussion. The damage often affects the victim’s ability to hear high frequencies.
Suffering any blow to the head in an accident, including in a slip-and-fall, might also cause permanent ear damage.
Victims working through a recovery must never be left to worry over their medical bills when someone else caused the accident. A Los Angeles ear damage attorney works to leave you to focus on your physical recovery while confronting insurance companies to get a financial recovery underway.
Ear Damage Prognosis and Medical Costs
A ruptured eardrum can take up to three months to heal. There’s a real risk that an infection will form in the tear in the tympanic membrane. For a perforated eardrum that won’t heal, surgery with an ear, nose, and throat specialist may have to be explored. A surgeon would take a piece of your own tissue and attach it to your eardrum and rebuild it.
In Los Angeles, eardrum or ear canal repair surgery can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $15,000. Across California, the price of ear surgery varies greatly depending on where you go for treatment.
What To Do After an Ear Injury Accident in California
Securing evidence of the hazard that caused your accident and showing the true extent of your ear damage will be key to getting the most out of your hearing loss injury claim.
On the scene of your accident, you can begin building a strong case to bring to an insurance company. Note if you are already experiencing a hearing impairment. Then, if you are physically capable of getting up after an accident, try to gather these details:
- Dial 911. Have paramedics check you over and alert them to any inner ear pain or hearing loss you detect. After a car crash on a Los Angeles roadway, have LAPD or the CHP respond to your scene so, later, you’ll have a collision report to show insurance adjusters if they try to question who was at fault.
- Alert someone where it happened. If you are at a supermarket or in the workplace when you suffer a head injury and/or an ear injury, alert a manager. They will write up an incident report for their corporate offices. You can show this report to insurance companies as well.
- Take photos. After a car accident, take pictures of the damage to the cars or trucks involved. Show shattered glass and airbag deployment. At work, on a construction site, or at another place of business, take photos of the hazard that caused you to fall or that created the excessive noise. Take pictures of any machinery that caused you to lose hearing. Take photos of any visible injuries and damage to personal property.
- Get contact information from witnesses. Your Los Angeles Traumatic Injury Lawyer will need to reach them later to secure testimony.
- Make an appointment with your doctor as soon as possible. You may not have noticed a hearing issue at the scene of your accident. But after the shock and adrenaline caused by the accident have worn off, you may find new injuries and notice hearing impairment. Follow the doctor’s recommendations including seeing specialists, including an Ear, Nose, and Throat physician.
- Keep any damaged clothing and personal items. Don’t wash bloody clothing. Don’t throw away the evidence of your hardships.
- Track your hardships. Keep track of every medical bill your receive. Show the costs of any medical equipment and devices associated with living with hearing loss. Save paystubs that show how much work you’ve missed and the income you’ve lost. Also, it’s a good idea to jot down every way your hearing loss has affected your work and home life. These physical and emotional challenges can earn support from at-fault parties.
Contact a Los Angeles Hearing Loss Lawyer
The costs of recovery from an accident that causes a hearing impairment often extend far beyond a single night in a hospital room. Los Angeles ear damage victims must seek compensation for their recent medical bills, but also for the potential lifelong costs of a permanent hearing disability.
There’s an easy, no-risk way to determine just what you’ll need in support to treat and manage a hearing loss injury. Reach out to Martin Gasparian to schedule a no-obligation consultation.
Mr. Gasparian, the founder of Maison Law, offers this free case evaluation to all personal injury victims in Los Angeles and Southern California. If you feel Maison Law can help you earn the maximum compensation in a hearing impairment settlement, you won’t need any money upfront. Mr. Gasparian doesn’t get paid unless he wins your case.
