[hammock]

It sounds like nearly 25% of people have a reference point to start with to prove that their new normal is sufficiently worse than what they started with:

"Nearly a quarter of the plaintiffs ... reported their condition in hearing tests before they ever used the Combat Arms earplugs."

That would seem to mean they have a "before" measurement, and can now test to get an "after" measurement.

[snypher]

I read that as the "condition" was hearing loss, implying it wasn't caused by the CA plugs.