Child cry in educators ear no work accident

Social Court Dortmund sees no connection to tinnitus

A childrens cry in the immediate vicinity of an educator's ear alone can not induce permanent tinnitus. Therefore, such a cry can not justify the recognition as an accident at work, decided the Social Court Dortmund in a judgment on Monday, 19 February 2018, announced (Az .: S 17 U 1041/16).

An educator from Hamm, who is employed in a special education children's home, was sued. During her work, a child had screamed especially loudly in the immediate vicinity of her ear. She suffers from a permanent inner ear noise, a tinnitus. Therefore, the educator wanted to have this incident recognized as an accident at work.

From the Unfallkasse Nordrhein-Westfalen she demanded the reimbursement of a so-called Tinnitusmasker. This is a device that "masks" tinnitus with a sound such as noise or natural sounds. In this way, the perception of your own inner ear noise should be forgotten.

The statutory accident insurance company rejected the recognition as an accident at work and the cost of the Tinnitusmasker from. Human cries could not cause permanent hearing impairment, the statement said.

The Social Court also ruled in its judgment of January 22, 2018, that the plaintiff does not need a Tinnitusmasker due to the "Schreier-Eignisses". It is only recognized in science that up to 130 decibels of loud human cries could cause mini-noise trauma with transient hearing loss. Permanent hearing damage, such as a permanent tinnitus, but are not expected. fle / mwo