27 Nov 2014
The Court held that a small percentage (5%) of occupationally attributable hearing loss can nonetheless be a direct consequence of a covered injury; percentage alone does not preclude entitlement and may instead inform the extent of ACC's contribution; ACC's decision declining provision was erroneous and must be reconsidered under Schedule 1 cl13.
17 Apr 2012
Uncontroverted medical evidence established that the majority of the claimant's current hearing loss is age-related and only 2.7% is attributable to the covered work-related injury; under s81 and Schedule 1 an aid must be a direct consequence of the covered injury to be funded, therefore ACC lawfully declined to fund replacement hearing aids and the appeal is dismissed.
2 Nov 2010
Medical specialist evidence showed the claimant's need for replacement hearing aids was not directly caused by covered occupational noise injury and existing aids performed the same function; therefore under s81 and clause 13 Schedule 1 ACC correctly declined to fund replacement aids and the appeal is dismissed.