The Cost of Hearing Loss Construction Noise & Hearing Loss Prevention The Cost of Hearing Loss INSTRUCTOR NOTE: The Stand-Alone Exercises (individual PowerPoint slides) and the Cumulative Presentation (includes slides for all 4 lessons), can be used on their own or inserted into other training programs. NOISE TRAINING EXERCISES FOR USE IN IN-CLASS FOR SKILLS TRAINING PROGRAMS : Stand-Alone Exercise B-2(B) Why should you care about hearing loss – besides losing your hearing? Hearing loss is one of the most common work-related disabilities in the United States and costs businesses an estimated $242 million in workers’ compensation payments each year.   Hearing loss also results in lost income for workers. It is estimated that people with untreated hearing loss lose an estimated $176 billion in annual income due to underemployment. A study of more than 40,000 households showed that those with severe hearing loss had unemployment rates almost twice as high as workers without hearing loss. And the income level of those suffering the most hearing loss was about $14,000 less than that earned by the group with the mildest hearing losses. In short, hearing loss can impact your ability to work and your income. Exercise B-2 (B)