Yes! Try SSA Listing 2.10 – Hearing Loss Not Treated with Cochlear Implantation
When you can’t hear, you can’t communicate as effectively. This makes it harder to do many everyday tasks, and it can make finding and keeping a job where you have to work with others monumentally difficult. Because of this, if you have significant trouble hearing for any reason and you don’t have a cochlear implant – or hearing aid – it is possible to qualify for disability benefits through Social Security.
The SSA has two methods by which you can get benefits. The first one is to use their Listing of Impairments. This is a comprehensive guide to the various medical issues that the Social Security Administration recognizes as disabling conditions, complete with definitions and specific criteria to meet for each one.
If you can show that you meet the requirements for a particular listing, you qualify for benefits automatically. For those who can’t meet the requirements for any of the listings, there’s another way, but it’s always better to try to match something in the Listing of Impairments first.
For Listing 2.10 Hearing Lost Not Treated with Cochlear Implants, the criteria are quite specific.
Requirements to Get Benefits for Listing 2.10
Those who wish to receive benefits for their hearing loss not treated with cochlear implants need to prove that their impairment meets multiple conditions:
- The average air conduction threshold in their better ear must be 90 decibels or higher.
- The average bone conduction threshold in their better ear must be 60 decibels or higher.
Alternatively, they can take a test with a standardized list of monosyllabic, phonetically balanced words and get 40 percent or less correct on word recognition.
There are a number of tests out there that the SSA has deemed acceptable to prove these hearing conditions:
- Auditory brainstem response
- Otoscopy
- Weber tuning fork test
- Békésy audiometry
- Speech audiometry
- Acoustic immittance testing
- Rinne tuning fork test
- Electrocochleography
- Pure tone audiography
Show positive results on any of these tests and it can help you to get the benefits that you need.
What happens for those people with hearing issues who can’t meet the requirements in Listing 2.10?
For a free legal consultation, call 800-562-9830
Equivalency – The Second Method for Hearing Loss Not Treated with Cochlear Implants
Remember that second method you can use to apply for benefits? If you cannot prove that you meet the requirements of any condition in the Listing of Impairments, your goal is then to prove that your issue is equivalent in severity to something that is in the Listing.
How do you do this? The process isn’t simple or straightforward, and you’ll most likely want to have an experienced professional by your side guiding you through it.
You will use something called the Five Step Sequential Evaluation Process, and you will need to prove that your hearing loss not treated with cochlear implants has kept you from working for 12 months or longer.
If you’d like to learn more, contact a knowledgeable disability attorney as soon as possible.
Learn even more about the claims process by reading our Social Security Disability eBook for free.
Call or text 800-562-9830 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form
