Hearing loss decisions — 2002

The Board finds that the veteran's current bilateral hearing disability is consistent with his reported in-service noise exposure and concomitant post-service hearing loss, granting service connection for bilateral hearing loss.

The Board denied service connection for the claimed conditions, finding no evidence of a nexus between the disabilities and military service.

The Board denied reopening of the claim for service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder and denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus. The veteran's original appeal was withdrawn, and new evidence did not establish a relationship between his current conditions and military service.

The VA determined that the veteran's bilateral hearing loss was not incurred in or aggravated by service and denied his claim.

The Board has reopened the claim of service connection for back disability and granted a 10 percent rating. The veteran's headaches are rated as 10 percent disabling, but no compensable rating is assigned for his bilateral hearing loss.

The Board found that the veteran did not have current residuals of a head injury sustained in service, and thus denied his claim for service connection.

The Board denied the veteran's claim for service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus, finding that there was no evidence of a nexus between his in-service noise exposure and his current disabilities.

The Board denied a compensable evaluation for bilateral hearing loss, finding that the December 1997 and January 2001 audiometric results did not warrant such an evaluation.

The veteran's claims for increased ratings and service connection were denied. The thoracic strain with degenerative arthritis was evaluated at the maximum disability rating, while lumbosacral strain with degenerative arthritis received separate evaluations prior to May 10, 1999 and from that date onwards. Duodenal ulcer with hiatal hernia did not meet criteria for a higher than 20 percent evaluation. Bilateral hearing loss was found to be noncompensable.

The Board has determined that the veteran does not have hearing loss disability for service connection purposes, as his auditory thresholds are less than 40 decibels at the pertinent frequencies and word recognition ability is greater than 94 percent in each ear.

The VA determined that the veteran's hearing loss did not warrant a compensable evaluation, as his hearing impairment was within normal limits in the low and middle frequencies.

The Board found that the veteran's bilateral hearing loss did not warrant a compensable evaluation from December 9, 1992, and denied an evaluation higher than 10 percent for this disability from January 27, 2000.

The Board has determined that the veteran's bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus are not service-connected, as they occurred many years after service. The compensable rating for suppurative otitis media is also denied.

The Board found that the veteran's current hearing loss and tinnitus were not related to his service, including noise exposure. The claim was denied.

The Board found that the veteran's hearing loss did not meet or approximate the criteria for a compensable rating based on VA and private audiometric evaluations conducted in September 2000 and October 2001, respectively.

The veteran's service-connected disabilities, including bilateral hearing loss and lumbosacral strain, render him unable to secure or follow substantially gainful employment. The Board has determined that he is entitled to a total disability rating based on individual unemployability.

The Board denied the reopening of claims for service connection for bilateral hearing loss, diarrhea, and residuals of asbestos exposure due to lack of new and material evidence. The claim for a psychiatric disability was also denied.

The Board denied the veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for service connection and a compensable evaluation for tinnitus, finding that the earliest date of claim was March 20, 1970.

The Board denied the appellant's claims for increased evaluations for tinnitus and bilateral hearing loss, finding that the evidence did not warrant a higher rating under the applicable VA rating criteria.

The Board found that the veteran's current bilateral hearing loss disability was not incurred or aggravated by his military service, as there were no records of hearing loss during service and no evidence linking it to in-service noise exposure.