LHWCA Hearing Loss Testing Quality Standards

Current understanding

The Department of Labor’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP) is soliciting public input on updating the quality standards for hearing loss testing under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA). The request contemplates incorporating objective audiologic methods — auditory brainstem response (ABR), auditory steady-state response (ASSR), and otoacoustic emissions (OAE) — alongside the traditional pure-tone audiogram used to evaluate occupational hearing loss claims. For workers, updated standards could affect how hearing loss impairments are documented and compensated; for employers and insurers, they could change evidentiary expectations in LHWCA claims. Status: proposed-rule / request for information stage.

Evidence log

• 2026-06-23 — Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act: Quality Standards for Hearing Loss Testing: cross-connection with whca-lhwca-late-reimbursement-interest: Both target LHWCA administration — one addresses evidentiary/testing standards for hearing loss claims, the other addresses interest on late federal reimbursements under the same program. (novelty: 2)

Open questions

Related