Royal Opera House to appeal against musician’s hearing loss ruling

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The Royal Opera House has been granted permission to challenge a landmark High Court ruling in favour of a musician who suffered hearing loss at a rehearsal. It will take its appeal against the Goldscheider v Royal Opera House decision to the Court of Appeal, as law firm BLM argues it has significant consequences for the live music sector and its ability to recruit musicians. In March, the High Court ruled that the Royal Opera House had contributed to viola player Christopher Goldscheider’s hearing loss when it failed to act on complaints about noise levels following a change in the way the orchestra was arranged in rehearsal in 2012. Although earplugs had been provided, the court found they offered insufficient hearing protection. It was left up to musicians whether they wanted to wear them or not. It was found that Goldscheider suffered “acoustic shock” in his right ear, despite wearing 25dB earplugs. He claimed he suffered from periodic imbalance and was unable to work as a musician as a result of this. Justice Nicola Davies found that it should have been compulsory for all of the orchestra to wear ear protection at all times. BLM, which is representing the Royal Opera House, said this was despite it being unanimously accepted by witnesses and Goldscheider that this was not practical as it made it impossible to hear some parts of the music. The judge also ruled that an orchestra pit should be a “hearing protection zone”, for which the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 would apply. In its appeal,