Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act: Quality Standards for Hearing Loss Testing

What it does

The Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA) provides compensation to employees for disability or death from injury arising out of and in the course of employment. Hearing loss claims constitute a significant portion of LHWCA claims, and determining the extent of hearing loss necessarily entails evaluating medical test results. The program statutes and regulations currently reference audiograms as the primary testing method and incorporate the American Medical Association's Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment for measuring and calculating hearing impairment. The Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP) is considering updating the quality standards for hearing loss testing to better reflect current medical technology and practice, particularly the potential use of objective testing methods. This request for information seeks the public's input on the comparative reliability and validity of audiograms versus objective tests such as Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR), Auditory Steady State Response (ASSR), and Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE) and others; current standards for administering these tests; and criteria used to evaluate hearing impairment.

The Workers' Compensation Programs Office's summary, as published in the Federal Register.

What it would change

1 part of Title 20 of the Code of Federal Regulations:

20 CFR 702

Before this

No earlier Federal Register document under regulation identifier 1240-AA20 since Jan. 1, 2025.

What happens next and when

The Department invites written comments on the request for information from interested parties. Written comments must be received by October 22, 2026.

The agency's dates, word for word.

Check it yourself

• The document in the Federal Register
• Docket WCPO-2026-0694 on Regulations.gov
• Title 20 on eCFR

The record as published

Source: the Federal Register (public domain). The document in the Federal Register