diff --git a/PyNutil/io/read_and_write.py b/PyNutil/io/read_and_write.py
index 8113b62d468eb93617577d487dc0ef211c0ac6f0..7aaac8cf17e796167ee6ee2d747c2ed781010e10 100644
--- a/PyNutil/io/read_and_write.py
+++ b/PyNutil/io/read_and_write.py
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ def load_segmentation(segmentation_path: str):
 
 # related to read and write
 # this function reads a VisuAlign JSON and returns the slices
-def load_visualign_json(filename, apply_damage_mask):
+def load_visualign_json(filename, apply_damage_mask=True):
     """
     Reads a VisuAlign JSON file (.waln or .wwrp) and extracts slice information.
     Slices may include anchoring, grid spacing, and other image metadata.