Hearing loss is the trades’ other signature cumulative trauma — decades of compressors, saws, and engine rooms, measured one audiogram at a time. And it carries the schedule’s least-expected occupational twist: the office out-rates the jobsite. The clerical group draws variant H for hearing — higher than the carpenter’s G — because the schedule prices hearing as communication capital, and communication is clerical work. The grid below is computed by the rating engine.
How hearing loss is measured
The AMA Guides rate it as 11.01.01.00 from audiometric thresholds in both ears (the binaural formula weights the better ear), converted to WPI. Rough anchors: early noise-induced loss commonly rates low single digits WPI; significant bilateral loss reaches the teens; profound loss climbs past 30% WPI. Age-related baseline (presbycusis) is where the apportionment fight lives in most litigated claims.
The money table
Final PD and total indemnity at age 37–41, 2026 injury, maximum PD rate, hearing loss alone, before apportionment:
| WPI | Clerical · 111 | Custodian · 340 | Carpenter · 380 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3% | 6% · $5,220 | 4% · $3,480 | 5% · $4,350 |
| 6% | 11% · $9,932.50 | 8% · $6,960 | 9% · $7,830 |
| 10% | 18% · $18,995 | 14% · $13,412.50 | 16% · $16,095 |
| 15% | 26% · $30,957.50 | 21% · $23,345 | 23% · $26,245 |
| 22% | 37% · $52,200 | 31% · $40,020 | 34% · $46,110 |
The clerical column wins every row — the mirror image of the back page and the same lesson as the occupation guide: the variant cuts whichever way the job depends on what the injury took.
Tinnitus combines on top
Ringing is not part of the audiogram — it’s a separate impairment (13.07.06.02) that combines on the CVC. Engine-computed for a custodian: 8% WPI hearing loss rates 11% PD; add 2% WPI tinnitus rating 3% PD and the combination is 14% PD — $13,412.50, versus $9,932.50 for the hearing loss alone. Pleading the ringing is worth $3,480 in this example, which is why the med-legal needs to ask about it.
The noise-exposure wrinkles
Hearing claims run on cumulative-trauma clocks: the §5412 date of injury (disability plus knowledge, often the audiogram date), exposure-period employer liability, and the post-retirement filings that follow the last audiogram — run the limitations math on the deadline calculator. On the medical side, hearing aids and their lifetime replacement cycle belong in the future-medical award — often worth more over time than the PD itself in modest-loss claims.
What this table can’t tell you
Wages below the maximum scale the dollars down, presbycusis apportionment shaves the industrial share, and settlements price the hearing-aid stream beyond any table. Companion pages: back · knee · shoulder · neck · hip · wrist · ankle · elbow · foot · hand · carpal tunnel · eye · amputation · fusion · knee replacement · rotator cuff. Estimates for informational use; not legal or medical advice.
Rate your hearing right here
Same engine as the tables above — pick your occupation and age, slide the WPI from the report, and carry it into the full calculator when you’re ready.