United States Department of Labor 

Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board 

__________________________________________ 

J.F., Appellant 

and 

TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY, 

KINGSTON FOSSIL PLANT, Harriman, TN, 

Employer 

__________________________________________ 

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Docket No. 16-0302 

Issued: April 14, 2016 

Appearances: Case Submitted on the Record

Appellant, pro se

Office of Solicitor, for the Director 

DECISION AND ORDER 

Before: 

CHRISTOPHER J. GODFREY, Chief Judge 

COLLEEN DUFFY KIKO, Judge 

ALEC J. KOROMILAS, Alternate Judge 

JURISDICTION 

On December 8, 2015 appellant filed a timely appeal from a September 10, 2015 merit 

decision of the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP). Pursuant to the Federal 

Employees’ Compensation Act1 (FECA) and 20 C.F.R. §§ 501.2(c) and 501.3, the Board has 

jurisdiction over the merits of this case. 

ISSUE 

The issue is whether appellant has met his burden of proof to establish more than 15 

percent left monaural hearing loss. 

FACTUAL HISTORY 

On July 29, 2014 appellant, then a 55-year-old manager of operations, filed an 

occupational disease claim (Form CA-2) alleging that he sustained hearing loss and tinnitus 

causally related to noise exposure in the course of his federal employment. He did not stop 

work. 

 1

 5 U.S.C. § 8101 et seq. 
2

On September 11, 2014 at the request of the employing establishment an audiologist 

provided the results of hearing tests performed by the employing establishment from 1984 to 

2012. 

On September 16, 2014 OWCP referred appellant, together with a statement of accepted 

facts describing his noise exposure at the employing establishment from 1979 to the present, to 

Dr. Joseph A. Motto, a Board-certified otolaryngologist, for a second opinion examination. 

In a report dated October 8, 2014, Dr. Motto noted that appellant had hearing loss at high 

frequencies in his left ear at the time he began working for the employing establishment. He 

discussed appellant’s complaints of tinnitus bilaterally over the past five years. Audiometric 

testing conducted for Dr. Motto on October 8, 2014 revealed decibel (dB) losses for the left ear 

at the 500, 1,000, 2,000, and 3,000 hertz (Hz) of 20, 25, 30, and 65 dBs, respectively. 

Audiometric testing for the right ear at the same levels revealed dB losses of 15, 20, 20, and 45, 

respectively. Dr. Motto diagnosed sloping mild-to-severe sensorineural hearing loss due at least 

in part to noise exposure at work. He advised that at 4,000 Hz appellant’s left-sided hearing loss 

was no more than expected at his age, but that his right-sided hearing loss “exceed[ed] age 

expected hearing loss at all frequencies. Dr. Motto determined that only the hearing loss on the 

right side was causally related to noise exposure at work and recommended authorization for a 

hearing aid on the right side. He provided a graph accompanying his report comparing the 

expected hearing loss between ages 19 and 55 with appellant’s actual hearing loss at the 

frequency levels of 500, 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, and 6,000 cycles per second. 

On October 21, 2014 an OWCP medical adviser reviewed Dr. Motto’s report and 

audiometric test results. For the right ear, at 500, 1,000, 2,000, and 3,000 Hz loss added to the 

dB losses of 15, 20, 20, and 45 to equal 100. He divided 100 dB by 4 to find that appellant had 

an average hearing loss of 25 dBs. The medical adviser then subtracted the fence of 25 dBs to 

find a balance of zero, which when multiplied by 1.5 yielded a zero percent hearing loss in the 

right ear. For the left ear, he added the dB losses of 20, 25, 30, and 65 to find 140, or an average 

loss of 35 dBs. After subtracting a fence of 25 decibels, the medical adviser multiplied the 

remaining balance of 10 by 1.5 to find a 15 percent left monaural hearing loss. He opined that 

OWCP should authorize hearing aids only for the left side. The medical adviser diagnosed 

bilateral sensorineural hearing loss and concluded that appellant had a 15 percent monaural 

hearing loss on the left side causally related to his employment noise exposure. 

On November 13, 2014 OWCP accepted appellant’s claim for bilateral sensorineural 

hearing loss and authorized hearing aids. 

On December 9, 2014 appellant filed a claim for a schedule award (Form CA-7). 

In a telephone call dated December 30, 2014, OWCP informed a healthcare provider that 

it had only authorized hearing aids on the left side. 

By decision dated January 8, 2015, OWCP granted appellant a schedule award for 15 

percent left monaural hearing loss. The period of the award ran for 7.8 weeks from October 8 to 

December 1, 2014. 
3

On January 25, 2015 appellant requested a review of the written record. He submitted a 

January 15, 2015 evaluation from an audiologist describing the results of an audiogram and 

requested authorization for hearing aids for the right as well as the left ear. 

By decision dated July 20, 2015, an OWCP hearing representative set aside the 

January 8, 2015 decision. She found that the medical adviser recommended a schedule award 

for 15 percent left-sided monaural hearing loss even though Dr. Motto found that the hearing loss 

on the left was not employment related. The hearing representative determined that the medical 

adviser failed to explain his disagreement with Dr. Motto. She questioned whether OWCP 

should reconsider its acceptance of the claim for bilateral hearing loss. 

By letter dated August 13, 2015, OWCP requested clarification from the medical adviser 

as to the percentage of percent permanent impairment for the left and right ear and whether there 

was a preexisting permanent impairment of the right or left ear. 

On August 18, 2015 an OWCP medical adviser noted that Dr. Motto had not provided an 

impairment rating for either ear. He further indicated that he did not find preexisting right ear 

damage. The medical adviser discussed Dr. Motto’s finding that appellant had hearing loss due 

to noise exposure at work only in the right ear, but opined that the graph accompanying his 

report “demonstrates that the actual hearing difference between age 55 and age 19 greatly 

exceeds the age expected hearing loss between age 55 and age 19 in both ears at 1,000, 2,000, 

and 3,000 Hz.” He noted that the values at 4,000 and 6,000 Hz were not relevant. The medical 

adviser concluded, “In summary, this claimant does have a bilateral SNHL [sensorineural 

hearing loss] that is due at least in part to his noise exposure during federal employment. The 

right ear loss is not ratable, but the left is. While it is true that some left ear damage occurred 

prior to [federal] employment, it is also true that additional damage due to noise exposure 

occurred on the job.” 

In a decision dated September 10, 2015, OWCP granted appellant a schedule award for a 

15 percent monaural hearing loss in the left ear. 

On appeal appellant argues that OWCP should authorize hearing aids in both ears. 

LEGAL PRECEDENT 

The schedule award provision of FECA,2

 and its implementing federal regulations,3 set 

forth the number of weeks of compensation payable to employees sustaining permanent 

impairment from loss, or loss of use, of scheduled members or functions of the body. However, 

FECA does not specify the manner in which the percentage of loss shall be determined. For 

consistent results and to ensure equal justice under the law for all claimants, OWCP has adopted 

the American Medical Association, Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, 

 2 Id. at § 8107. 

3

 20 C.F.R. § 10.404. 
4

(A.M.A., Guides) as the uniform standard applicable to all claimants.4

 As of May 1, 2009, the 

sixth edition of the A.M.A., Guides is used to calculate schedule awards.5

OWCP evaluates industrial hearing loss in accordance with the standards contained in the 

A.M.A., Guides.

6

 Using the frequencies of 500, 1,000, 2,000, and 3,000 cycles per second, the 

losses at each frequency are added up and averaged. Then, the fence of 25 dBs is deducted 

because, as the A.M.A., Guides point out, losses below 25 dBs result in no impairment in the 

ability to hear everyday speech under everyday conditions. The remaining amount is multiplied 

by a factor of 1.5 to arrive at the percentage of monaural hearing loss. The binaural loss is 

determined by calculating the loss in each ear using the formula for monaural loss; the lesser loss 

is multiplied by five, then added to the greater loss and the total is divided by six to arrive at the 

amount of binaural hearing loss. The Board has concurred in OWCP’s adoption of this standard 

for evaluating hearing loss.7 

ANALYSIS 

In a report dated October 8, 2014, Dr. Motto, an OWCP referral physician, diagnosed 

bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. He opined that appellant had hearing loss in the right ear as 

a result of noise exposure at work. Dr. Motto found, however, that the hearing loss in the left ear 

at 4,000 Hz was not more than would be expected at his age, and thus determined that the leftsided hearing loss was not employment related. He recommended authorizing hearing aids on 

the right side. 

On October 21, 2014 an OWCP medical adviser properly applied OWCP’s standardized 

procedures to the October 8, 2014 audiogram obtained by Dr. Motto. He found that testing of 

the right ear at the frequencies of 500, 1,000, 2,000, and 3,000 cycles per second revealed losses 

of 15, 20, 20, and 45 dB, which he added to total 100. The medical adviser divided 100 dB by 4 

to find an average loss of 25, from which he deducted the threshold fence of 25 dB to find a 

balance of 0. He multiplied 0 by 1.5 to find a 0 percent monaural hearing loss on the right. For 

the left ear, the medical adviser found that appellant had losses of 20, 25, 30, and 65 at the 

frequencies of 500, 1,000, 2,000, and 3,000 cycles per second, for a total of 140 dB and an 

average loss of 35 dB. Subtracting the fence of 25 dB yielded a balance of 10 dB, which he 

multiplied by 1.5 to find a 15 percent monaural loss. 

On November 13, 2014 OWCP accepted that appellant sustained bilateral hearing loss 

due to noise exposure. It also authorized hearing aids. On January 8, 2015 OWCP granted 

appellant a schedule award for 15 percent left monaural hearing loss. However, in a decision 

dated July 20, 2015, an OWCP hearing representative set aside the January 8, 2015 decision after 

finding that the medical adviser did not explain his disagreement with Dr. Motto, who found the 

hearing loss on the left side was not employment related. 

 4 Id. at § 10.404(a). 

5

 Federal (FECA) Procedure Manual, Part 2 -- Claims, Schedule Awards and Permanent Disability Claims, 

Chapter 2.808.5(a) (February 2013); see also Part 3 -- Medical, Schedule Awards, Chapter 3.700.2 and Exhibit 1 

(January 2010). 

6

 A.M.A., Guides 250. 

7 See J.H., Docket No. 08-2432 (issued June 15, 2009); J.B., Docket No. 08-1735 (issued January 27, 2009). 
5

In a report dated August 18, 2015, the medical adviser related that he disagreed with 

Dr. Motto’s finding that appellant’s left-sided hearing loss was not employment related. He 

explained that his hearing loss at the 1,000, 2,000, and 3,000 Hz significantly exceeded that 

expected due to age. The medical adviser further noted that values at 4,000 Hz were not used. 

He concluded that appellant had some hearing loss on the left side prior to his federal 

employment, but noise exposure at work had caused further damage. Based on the medical 

adviser’s report, in a decision dated September 10, 2015, OWCP granted a schedule award for a 

15 percent monaural loss of the left ear. There is no other medical evidence showing a greater 

hearing loss under established OWCP procedures.8

 The Board thus finds that appellant has no 

more than 15 percent monaural hearing loss on the left side. 

On appeal appellant contends that OWCP should authorize hearing aids for his right as 

well as left ear. The Board notes that on November 13, 2014 OWCP authorized hearing aids 

without indicating that the authorization is only for one side. Upon return of the case record, 

OWCP should comply with this earlier decision and grant bilateral hearing aids. 

CONCLUSION 

The Board finds that appellant has not met his burden of proof to establish more than 15 

percent monaural hearing loss on the left side. 

 8

 Appellant submitted an audiogram dated January 15, 2015, but as it was not certified by a physician it may not 

form the basis of an impairment rating. See E.S., Docket No. 11-1724 (issued March 27, 2012). 
6

ORDER 

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT the September 10, 2015 decision of the Office of 

Workers’ Compensation Programs is affirmed. 

Issued: April 14, 2016 

Washington, DC 

 

 Christopher J. Godfrey, Chief Judge 

 Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board 

 

 Colleen Duffy Kiko, Judge 

 Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board 

 

 Alec J. Koromilas, Alternate Judge 

 Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board