Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Key definition

Noise definition

What does Noise mean? In transactional, finance and insurance practice, noise describes uncertainty or variability in outcomes that is not driven by investment market movements. It is a descriptive expression rather than a defined legal term in the UK or Ireland. Examples include an insurer’s uncertainty over the frequency, timing and severity of future claims on its book, or short-term, immaterial fluctuations in working capital or earnings unrelated to market prices. Lawyers refer to noise when allocating non-market risk in contracts, for example in pricing mechanisms, earn-out or working capital true-ups, financial covenants, material adverse change clauses, warranties and indemnities, and in regulatory...

NIHL in civil claims: diagnosis, exposure thresholds, asymmetry and quantification under CLB (2000), LCB (2016) and MLC (2022) guidelines

Published by a LexisNexis PI & Clinical Negligence expert

Practice notes

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The principal source consulted by medicolegal specialists and the courts when diagnosing Noise‑induced hearing loss (NIHL) is Coles, Lutman and Buffin’s ‘Guidelines on the diagnosis of noise‑induced hearing loss for medicolegal purposes’, issued in April 2000 (the CLB Guidelines). The same authors subsequently produced the ‘Guidelines for Quantification of Noise‑Induced Hearing Loss in a Medicolegal Context’ in 2015 (the LCB Guidelines), as the CLB document addressed diagnosis only and could not be used to quantify NIHL. Both sets of guidance are reviewed in this Practice Note, which also touches briefly on the ‘Guidelines for Diagnosing and Quantifying Noise‑Induced Hearing Loss’ by Moore, Lowe and Cox, published in 2022 (the rM‑NIHL Guidelines).

The 2000 CLB Guidelines

NIHL claims are challenging because demonstrating that a Claimant:

was exposed to hazardous workplace noise, and
has hearing impairment

is insufficient, on its own, to satisfy a court that occupational noise caused the loss. Noise‑related damage usually affects the higher frequencies; however, age‑related hearing loss (presbyacusis) predominantly involves the same frequencies. Robust guidelines are therefore essential to assist experts and the courts in distinguishing NIHL from presbyacusis...

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Mussadak Mirza

Barrister, 3 Hare Court

Mussadak is a senior London-based barrister, with over 20 years’ experience in litigation and advisory work across the UK and the Gulf. His domestic practice focuses on industrial disease litigation, with particular expertise in noise-induced hearing loss claims arising from the coal mining, steel, rail, shipbuilding and construction sectors. He is nationally recognised for his work in military claims, having acted for hundreds of former and serving personnel from the British Army, Royal Navy, and Royal Air Force. In addition to his domestic practice, Mussadak has a growing international arbitration and offshore practice in Gulf jurisdictions. He is increasingly involved in matters governed by English law with an international element, and advises on merits, strategy, and dispute resolution. He is a visiting lecturer at Bait Al Qanoon (BQ) in Oman, and visits the Sultanate regularly to deliver knowledge transfer, professional development, and...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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