Hearing loss information for businesses

You should file a claim when you become aware that a current or former employee has been diagnosed with hearing loss that they are claiming is a result of their work environment. The form you use to file a claim depends on the type of hearing loss, noise-induced or traumatic.

If your current or former employee is claiming noise-induced hearing loss, and has already submitted a claim, we will also send you a form to report on the occupational noise-induced hearing loss. You must complete this form and return it to us within 30 days.

For traumatic hearing loss claims, you will need to complete a report of the injury/disease (Form 7).

You can submit either form to us by logging in to your online services account.

We have a team of people specially trained in hearing loss to support you. We will call you to give you the claim number and collect any additional information we may need to make a decision about the claim.

We will then review the information provided by you, your employee and their health care provider to decide if your employee is entitled to WSIB benefits.

We will work with you, your employer and your health care provider to collect any information we need to make a decision on your claim. It’s helpful if you can: 

• Describe your symptoms and when you first became aware of your hearing problems  
• Provide the names and addresses of all doctors, audiologists and hearing clinic(s) you have seen for your hearing loss, and the dates of all visits

For noise-induced hearing loss claims: 

We need you to provide us with information about noise exposure in your workplace(s) and your medical diagnosis of hearing loss. We require the earliest hearing assessment with the clinic's contact information.

You will need to provide detailed information about your previous jobs and employers, including dates of employment, how long you worked at the job and the types of tasks you did on the job. We may also ask you for the one or more of the following documents confirming your past employment, especially if your employer is no longer in business:  

• T4 slip(s), tax return(s), pay stub(s), pension statement, record of employment (ROE) 
• Union records 
• Awards 
• Letters of service or recognition with an employer letterhead

For traumatic hearing loss claims:

• We need you to provide:
• An assessment of your hearing impairment 
• Work accident history 
• Medical reports and documentation

With this information, we will then complete our review and decide if your claim is approved.

Noise-induced hearing loss is cumulative and can happen when someone is exposed to continued and excessive noise over time. When we look at these claims, we consider the person’s work history with businesses who are covered under Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Act.

While there may be multiple workplaces contributing to a person’s overall noise exposure and hearing loss, there is only one employer of record on the claim. If the claim is approved, the employer of record is the last employer to expose the person to hazardous noise.

Making sure work is safe and productive for your employee with hearing loss means you may have to make accommodations, including:

• protecting your employee from residual hearing loss if your workplace is in a noise-exposed environment
• making changes to allow your employee to hear warning signals or to monitor equipment
• changing or adapting the communication requirements of the job

These resources can help you accommodate an employee who has hearing loss: