Lyons Davidson hosted a training day in Bristol in November, which included an informative presentation from Priy Silva, a leading ear, nose and throat surgeon at Oxford University Hospitals.
Mr Silva spoke about the complex relationship between road traffic accidents and the development of tinnitus. He dealt with the probable root causes of tinnitus following trauma, identified those individuals most at risk of its onset, explored the long-term management of the condition and discussed the evidential difficulties in proving a causal relationship between the trauma and tinnitus.
He also looked at the increase in reported incidences of tinnitus in passengers who travelling in vehicles where air bags were deployed in collisions.
His talk was particularly interesting, since Paul Kelly, Senior Associate in Lyons Davidson’s complex injury team, was recently involved in a successful tinnitus claim, which involved a client in her early seventies who was unfortunately involved in a head on collision, during which the airbags in her vehicle deployed.
The medical evidence confirmed that our client had hearing loss and moderate levels of tinnitus as a result of the collision, which she found quite intrusive. It would also regularly affect her sleep. The prognosis was that these symptoms would continue but the effects could be lessened by a course of counselling to help her adapt to these changes. She could also use a noise-generating hearing aid to help mask the tinnitus. The availability of these therapies on the NHS is limited. Provision for the future cost of these items was made as part of the claim, so the impact of these changes to her hearing could be minimised for the rest of her life.
For more information on any of the issues raised in this blog, on personal injury matters in general or if you thin you have a tinnitus claim, contact Paul Kelly by emailing [email protected] or calling 0117 904 8269.
