Written question asked by Annette Brooke (Liberal Democrat) on Monday, 4 April 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 7 April 2005. It was answered by Ivor Caplin (Labour) on Thursday, 7 April 2005 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Ministry of Defence

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of whether an additive relationship exists between noise-induced hearing loss and age-related hearing loss; and if he will make a statement.

Answer: Mrs. Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment his Department has made of whether an additive relationship exists between noise- induced hearing loss and age-related hearing loss; and if he will make a statement. [224846] Mr. Caplin: The Ministry of Defence's clinical practice in this area is based on publicly available knowledge that an additive relationship does exist between noise-induced hearing loss and age-related hearing loss. This is based on information in the following references: King P. F., Coles R. R. A., Lutman M. E., Robinson D. W. (1992) Assessment of Hearing Disability, Whurr Publishers, London Coles R. R. A., Lutman M. E., Buffin J. T. (2000) Guidelines on the diagnosis of noise-induced hearing loss for medicolegal purposes. Clin. Otolaryngol. 25, 264-273 Copies of these will be placed in the Library of the House.

Secondary information