Compensation in a personal injury claim is built from two distinct parts. A properly run claim values both. Undersettled claims very often capture only the first.
1. General damages — the injury itself
This compensates the pain, suffering and loss of amenity caused by your hearing loss and tinnitus. Courts use the Judicial College Guidelines (currently the 17th edition, 2024) as the benchmark. Indicative ranges:
| Severity | Indicative general damages |
|---|---|
| Severe tinnitus with NIHL | £36,260 – £55,570 |
| Moderate tinnitus and NIHL | £18,180 – £36,260 |
| Mild tinnitus with some NIHL | £15,370 – £18,180 |
| Slight NIHL or slight tinnitus alone | Up to £8,560 |
Guideline ranges only; the right figure depends on your audiogram, symptoms and their effect on daily life.
Yes. In the landmark Abbott & Others v Ministry of Defence [2026] EWHC 941 (KB) — the group litigation run by Hugh James — the High Court confirmed the Judicial College Guidelines remain the starting point for general damages in military hearing loss claims, while stressing that the real-world impact on the individual is central. The lead awards bear this out: a claimant with severe loss requiring hearing aids received £39,000 in general damages, and another with tinnitus at the upper-mild to lower-moderate level received £19,000.
2. Special damages — your financial losses
This is the half that's so often missed — and frequently the larger half. Special damages compensate the actual financial impact of your injury, including:
- Past and future loss of earnings, if your hearing affected your work or career.
- Loss of pension and service benefits, particularly after a medical discharge.
- Hearing aids — the lifetime cost of devices, batteries, servicing and replacements.
- Treatment and audiology, including private care where the NHS can't meet the need.
- Care and assistance where the injury affects daily life.
For a younger service-leaver, future pension and earnings losses can dwarf the general-damages figure. A settlement that paid only for the injury — and ignored these — may be worth a fraction of the true claim. Read more on pension and future losses.
How to tell if yours was undervalued
Look back at your settlement and ask: did it include a figure for future earnings? For pension? For hearing aids over your lifetime? Was the injury value supported by an independent audiologist? If the answer to several of these is "no" or "I don't know", the figure may not reflect what you were owed.
You don't have to work this out alone. We'll obtain your file and rebuild the valuation for free, so you can see the gap for yourself.