Hearing loss decisions — 2007

The Board found that the veteran's current hearing loss did not have its onset during service or within one year of separation, and is not otherwise etiologically related to his service. Therefore, the claim for service connection for bilateral hearing loss was denied.

The Board has remanded the case for further development, including obtaining medical records and conducting examinations to determine if the veteran's hearing loss, tinnitus, and PTSD are related to his military service.

The RO reduced the disability rating for the veteran's bilateral hearing loss from 60 percent to 20 percent, effective January 1, 2007. The reduction was based on improvement in the veteran's hearing.

The Board has remanded the veteran's claims of entitlement to service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus due to inadequate VA medical examination report, and a need for further development.

The Board has determined that the veteran's hearing loss does not warrant a rating higher than 10 percent, as his audiometric test results reflect no worse than level II in the right ear and level VII in the left ear.

The Board has determined that there is no evidence to support the veteran's claims of bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus being related to service. The veteran's current conditions are not considered to be due to his military service.

The Board has determined that the veteran's bilateral hearing loss does not warrant a compensable evaluation, as his pure tone thresholds and speech recognition scores do not meet the criteria for any higher rating under VA's Rating Schedule.

The veteran's claims for reopening his left ear hearing loss claim and seeking an increased rating for right ear hearing loss are being remanded due to significant notice deficiencies.

The veteran's claims for increased ratings for a right ankle disability, service connection for bilateral hearing loss, and service connection for tinnitus were denied. The Board found that the evidence did not meet the criteria for an increased rating or service connection.

The Board has denied the veteran's claims for service connection for a toe injury and left ear hearing loss, finding that there is no evidence of current disabilities or continuity of symptomatology related to service.

The Board found no evidence of noise exposure during service and denied the veteran's claim for service connection for bilateral hearing loss.

The veteran's claim for an increased evaluation for his service-connected bilateral hearing loss is being remanded due to the need for a more recent VA audiometric examination.

The Board denied the veteran's claims for service connection for right ear hearing loss and left ear hearing loss, finding no evidence of a current disability related to service. The left ear hearing loss is currently rated as noncompensable.

The veteran seeks an increased evaluation for his service-connected bilateral hearing loss. The Board has determined that a more contemporaneous VA examination is needed to assess the current severity of his condition and its functional effects on his daily activities.

The Board has remanded the case for additional development, including obtaining VA treatment records and scheduling a VA examination to determine if the veteran's current hearing loss and tinnitus are related to his military service.

The veteran's claim for a compensable evaluation for bilateral hearing loss was denied for the period prior to May 10, 2007. A 10 percent evaluation is granted from May 10, 2007.

The Board has remanded the case due to the submission of new evidence and the need for additional consideration regarding the rating and effective date of any award.

The Board has dismissed the appeal due to the death of the appellant.

The Board denied increased ratings for bilateral hearing loss, finding that the evidence did not support a rating in excess of the current 20 percent prior to May 22, 2007 and 30 percent from May 22, 2007.

The veteran's initial claim for an increased evaluation for his service-connected bilateral hearing loss was denied. His claim for service connection for a claimed vision disorder, to include as secondary to his service-connected diabetes mellitus, is also denied.