§ 49-GG — Determination of damage risk criteria and standards for the measurement of occupational loss of hearing

§ 49-gg. Determination of damage risk criteria and standards for the\nmeasurement of occupational loss of hearing. The chairman of the\nworkers' compensation board is authorized and empowered to, and shall,\nappoint and consult with a committee or committees of not less than\nthree nor more than nine outstanding expert consultants familiar with\nthe various aspects of the problem of industrial noise and occupational\nloss of hearing for the purpose of developing their recommendations as\nto the most reliable and acceptable damage risk criteria and standards\nfor the measurement and determination of occupational loss of hearing.\nSuch recommendations shall include but shall not be limited to the\nsubjects of (a) what industrial noise levels may cause occupational loss\nof hearing, (b) frequencies to be used in measuring industrial hearing\nloss, (c) the point below which there is no hearing disability and the\npoint above which the inability to hear shall be deemed total, (d) the\nuse of a monaural or binaural method of computing the percentage loss of\nhearing, (e) proper deductions for presbycusis and other non-industrial\ncauses of deafness and being hard of hearing, and (f) the number of\nexaminations needed to evaluate industrial hearing loss and the fairest\nmethod of determining the loss from the results of successive\nexaminations. The committee or committees of expert consultants so\nappointed by the chairman shall meet and confer with representatives of\nthe workers' compensation board and with representatives of employers\nand employees, and shall thereafter report their findings and\nrecommendations to the workers' compensation board. The workers'\ncompensation board, after giving due consideration to such findings and\nrecommendations, is authorized to adopt reasonable rules, not\ninconsistent with the provisions of this chapter including without\nlimitation section forty-nine-hh of this article, and the labor law,\nprescribing damage risk criteria and standards for the measurement and\ndetermination of occupational loss of hearing. Pending the formulation\nand adoption by the workers' compensation board of such rules, claims\nfor occupational loss of hearing shall be determined upon the basis of\nthe tentative standards and criteria contained in the report, dated\nDecember, nineteen hundred fifty-three of the committee appointed by the\nworkers' compensation board and entitled "Report of the Committee of\nConsultants on Occupational Loss of Hearing."\n