Jackson Hearing Loss Lawyer
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC represents injured and sick workers in Jackson, across Hinds County, and throughout Mississippi and South Louisiana, and that includes workers whose hearing has been damaged by the job. A Jackson hearing loss lawyer handles a kind of claim that looks nothing like a broken bone or a torn shoulder. There is no single accident, no ambulance ride, and often no one at the plant who ever writes down that it happened.
Hearing loss at work builds quietly. A pipefitter notices he keeps asking his crew to repeat themselves. A firefighter realizes the ringing after every siren-heavy shift never fully stops. A manufacturing worker is told at a routine screening that the high frequencies are going. By the time a diagnosis lands, the injury may have been accumulating for years, and the insurer’s first move is often to say it came from hunting, concerts, age, or a previous employer.
That slow onset is what makes these claims hard, and it is why the timing and the medical proof matter so much. The sections below walk through how hearing loss claims actually work in Mississippi, what insurers argue, what you should do in the first days after a diagnosis, and how our team builds these cases.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a Hearing Loss Claim
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe is a workers’ compensation firm. Most lawyers who take comp cases are personal injury attorneys who handle one when it happens to walk in. We serve Jackson, Madison, Hinds County, the Gulf Coast, Hattiesburg, Southaven, the Delta, and communities across Mississippi, along with New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Shreveport, and the rest of Louisiana. We have recovered more than $100 million in settlements for our clients, we advance the costs of the case, consultations are free, and you pay no fee unless we recover benefits for you. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, and we speak Spanish.
The people handling your case matter. Rob Lunsford, our founding partner, has spent his entire legal career representing injured workers. Brad Baskin and Jennifer Priebe, both partners, have been recognized by Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, and The National Trial Lawyers, and the firm was ranked by Best Law Firms in 2026 for Workers’ Compensation Law, Claimants, in Jackson. Andrew Rueff has tried dozens of jury and bench trials to verdict and routinely appears before the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission. Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the attorney team.
Results show what contested medical claims can be worth when they are built properly: a $685,000 settlement for a surgical tech with a lower back injury, $600,000 for a construction worker with a complex back injury, $385,000 for a project manager struck in his work vehicle, and $221,000 for a land-based oil rig worker with severe burns. Those are not hearing loss cases, but they come from the same kind of fight, where an insurer blames something other than the job and the answer is medical evidence, work history, and persistence. Clients consistently tell us they felt listened to and that their attorney stood up to the insurance company at every step.
Jobs and Exposures That Lead to Work-Related Hearing Loss
- Construction and Ironwork: Jackson’s steady commercial and infrastructure building means crews spend years around jackhammers, pneumatic tools, compressors, and heavy equipment. Loss builds slowly and usually shows up first in the higher frequencies.
- Oil Field and Industrial Plant Work: Drilling rigs, pumps, turbines, and plant machinery produce constant high-decibel noise. Workers on land-based rigs and in industrial facilities are exposed across long shifts and long careers.
- Manufacturing and Mechanical Trades: Stamping, grinding, sawing, and assembly lines expose workers to continuous noise, and diesel and heavy-equipment mechanics face repeated loud impact and engine noise.
- Firefighters and First Responders: Sirens, air horns, pumps, and tools on the fireground can damage hearing over a career. Hearing loss is one of the job-related conditions that firefighters and first responders bring to us, along with hypertension, heart and lung disease, and posttraumatic stress.
- Truck Drivers and Transportation Workers: Long hours of engine, road, and wind noise add up, and a driver injured in a wreck can suffer an acute ear injury on top of everything else.
- Traumatic Head and Ear Injuries: A blast, a heavy blow to the head, or a fall can cause sudden hearing loss or damage to the inner ear. Those claims run alongside any other injuries from the same incident.
- Exposure to Chemicals and Toxins: Certain solvents and industrial chemicals can harm the auditory system, a link that usually takes expert medical testimony to establish.
What to Do After a Hearing Loss Diagnosis or Suspicion
Start with the clock. In Mississippi you must report your injury to your employer within 30 days, and you generally have two years to file a Petition to Controvert with the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission. Those deadlines come from Miss. Code section 71-3-35. With a gradual condition like hearing loss, the practical question is when the clock starts, and that is a fact-heavy argument that insurers love to make against workers who waited. Do not wait to figure it out. Tell your employer in writing the moment a doctor connects your hearing problem to your work, keep a copy, and note the date.
Get a real audiogram from an audiologist or ear, nose, and throat physician, and ask them directly whether your pattern of loss is consistent with noise exposure on the job. Keep every record. If your employer ever ran hearing screenings, ask for those results, because a baseline test from earlier in your career can show exactly how much hearing you lost while working there. Write down where you worked, what equipment ran around you, how long your shifts were, and whether you were given earplugs or other protection. Names of coworkers who shared the same exposure are valuable.
Be careful with statements. Adjusters sometimes ask for a recorded statement early, and a casual answer about hunting as a teenager or a loud hobby can be used to argue your loss came from somewhere else. You are not required to have a lawyer to file a claim, but a call before you give a statement is worth making. The Commission administers Mississippi comp claims rather than a court, and cases are heard at an evidentiary hearing before an Administrative Judge, with review available before the Full Commission in Jackson. The Full Commission reviews the record made before the Administrative Judge rather than starting over, which is why the evidence must be built well from the beginning.
If you work in Louisiana, the notice rule is also 30 days, but a formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the date of injury. Those cases go to the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration. We handle both states, and we can sort out which law applies if you worked on both sides of the line.
How Insurers Fight Hearing Loss Claims and How the Evidence Answers Them
Insurers rarely deny a hearing loss claim by saying the worker is lying. They deny it by pointing elsewhere. The usual arguments are age-related hearing decline, off-the-job noise, prior employers, and a pre-existing condition. A pre-existing condition does not end a claim. If your job caused, worsened, or sped up the loss, you may still be entitled to benefits, and our attorneys regularly answer this argument in back, shoulder, and knee cases where the insurer blames degeneration or an old injury.
The answer in a hearing case is specific. Noise-induced loss tends to show a recognizable pattern on an audiogram, and a qualified physician can explain how that pattern differs from the gradual decline of aging. Work history matters just as much: the equipment you ran, the decibel levels around you, the hours you spent exposed, and whether protection was ever provided. We gather that proof, line up the medical opinions, and put it in front of the Commission in a form that is hard to wave away.
Benefits in a successful claim can include reasonable and necessary medical care, which for hearing loss can include evaluations, hearing aids, and related treatment. Wage-loss benefits apply when the condition keeps you from working or from earning what you used to. Mississippi’s wage-loss benefit is up to two-thirds of your average weekly wage, subject to a weekly statutory maximum and time limits, and total disability benefits cannot run past 450 weeks. Permanent partial disability payments are likewise capped at 450 weeks. Coverage begins on your first day of employment, with no waiting period.
Sometimes more than one party is responsible. If a contractor’s equipment or an outside company’s unsafe site contributed to your injury, you may have a separate personal injury claim alongside your comp case, and we make sure the two work together rather than against each other. Appeals are also part of the picture. A final Commission award can be appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court within 30 days, based only on the record made before the Commission, and the Supreme Court often assigns those cases to the Mississippi Court of Appeals.
Questions Workers Ask About Hearing Loss Claims
Is hearing loss covered by workers’ compensation in Mississippi?
Yes, when the hearing loss results from your work or work environment. It can come from a sudden event, such as a blast or head injury, or from years of repeated noise exposure on the job. The key is connecting your medical condition to your employment through medical evidence and a clear work history.
How long do I have to report hearing loss to my employer?
You must report within 30 days, and you have two years to file with the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission. With a gradual condition, the insurer may argue that you should have known sooner. That is why it is best to report in writing as soon as a doctor ties your hearing problem to your job.
What if my hearing declined slowly and I cannot point to one accident?
A claim does not require a single accident. Cumulative exposure to workplace noise can be a compensable injury. What you need is proof of the noise you were exposed to, how long, and a medical opinion connecting the pattern of loss to that exposure.
Can the insurance company blame my age or hobbies?
They often try. Age, hunting, music, and earlier jobs are the usual targets. A pre-existing or contributing cause does not automatically defeat a claim if work caused, worsened, or accelerated the loss. A physician who can separate noise-induced damage from age-related decline is often decisive.
Do I need a lawyer for a hearing loss claim?
Not every claim requires one, but these claims are contested more often than most because causation is so easy to dispute. If your claim has been denied, delayed, or reduced, or the loss is permanent and affects your ability to work, a lawyer can make a major difference.
How much does it cost to hire your firm?
Nothing up front. Consultations are free, we advance the costs of your case, and we are paid only if we recover benefits or a settlement for you. Attorney fees in comp cases are limited and approved under state law.
Will I lose my job if I file a claim?
Mississippi and Louisiana both protect workers from being fired in retaliation for filing a comp claim. If you were let go or punished after reporting a problem, tell us in your consultation so we can review your options.
I worked for several employers over the years. Who is responsible?
That is one of the harder questions in occupational hearing cases. Depending on where the exposure occurred and when the loss was diagnosed, responsibility may fall on one employer or be disputed between several. We look at your full work history to determine which employer and insurer should answer for the claim.
Does a workers’ comp claim affect my health insurance or Social Security?
A comp claim can overlap with other benefits, and the interaction depends on your situation. Medical care tied to your work injury should be paid through the comp system rather than your personal insurance. If you receive Social Security disability, there may be offsets to consider, and it is worth discussing before any settlement is signed.
What if I worked in Louisiana or on both sides of the state line?
Louisiana has its own rules, including a one-year filing deadline for a formal claim, and claims are heard through the Office of Workers’ Compensation Administration. Our attorneys handle claims in both states, so we can work out which state’s law applies to your exposure and file accordingly.
Can I still get benefits if I can work but not as well as before?
Partial disability and reduced earning capacity can still be compensable. If hearing loss limits the jobs you can safely perform or the pay you can earn, that loss of earning ability is part of what we document and pursue.
Serving Hearing Loss Clients Across Jackson and Hinds County
Our team represents injured workers from Jackson and the communities of Hinds County, including Clinton, Byram, Terry, Raymond, Bolton, Utica, and Edwards. We also serve workers in neighboring Madison County, including Madison, Ridgeland, and Canton, and in Rankin County, where many Jackson-area workers live and commute. From there our reach extends to Vicksburg, Brandon, Pearl, Flowood, and the Pearl River corridor, and out to the Delta, Hattiesburg, the Gulf Coast, Southaven, and north Mississippi.
Industrial, construction, and transportation workers across the state bring us noise-related claims, and so do firefighters and first responders. We also represent workers in Louisiana, including New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, and Shreveport, and throughout South Louisiana and north Louisiana. Wherever you work, if the job damaged your hearing, we can evaluate the claim.
Talk to a Jackson Hearing Loss Attorney Today
If you have lost hearing you believe your job took from you, a Jackson hearing loss attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe can review your work history and medical records, explain your deadlines, and tell you honestly what the claim looks like. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, consultations are free, and you pay no fee unless we recover benefits for you. Call us today, or send your case details through our online form, and let us deal with the employer and the insurer while you focus on your health. We help injured workers. That is all we do.
