§ Ms AthertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what research he has conducted on the comparative levels of hearing loss suffered by(a) those suffering from age-related hearing loss and (b) veterans suffering from hearing loss which is both age-related and attributable to wartime noise. [184111]
§ Mr. CaplinNeither the Ministry of Defence, which is now responsible for veterans' matters, nor the former Department of Social Security has commissioned research on this specific comparison. However, we recognise that, particularly in the past, noise injury arising from service in the Armed Forces has been a significant contributor to hearing loss among service personnel. The Government have therefore taken a close interest in the medical understanding of the causes of and prognosis for hearing loss. including instigating the 1997 Caiman review. The current scientific understanding of noise-induced sensorineural hearing loss is that it does not get worse on removal from the noise giving rise to the injury and that, in the context of the War Pensions Scheme, hearing loss due to noise and that due to subsequent effects of age are not more than additive. The aim remains that policy and individual decisions should reflect the latest published peer reviewed scientific evidence and, to that end, we carry out a regular scrutiny of emerging relevant scientific literature.