Goldscheider, a viola player, claimed he was forced to give up his work as a professional musician after his hearing was “immediately and irreversibly damaged” by exposure to very high noise levels during a rehearsal of Wagner’s Ring Cycle in September 2012. He was sitting directly in front of the orchestra’s brass section. He claimed the Royal Opera House had breached its obligations under the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 and the judge found in his favour. The Royal Opera House had argued acoustic shock did not exist and instead, the musician had developed a natural hearing problem, Meniere’s disease.