Hearing loss decisions — 2010

The Veteran's claim for an earlier effective date for the grant of service connection for bilateral hearing loss was dismissed as a freestanding claim, not subject to adjudication.

The Board has determined that the Veteran's bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus are related to his military service, including significant noise exposure during service. As a result, the claims for service connection have been granted.

The Board has remanded the case due to incomplete records and need for an updated VA examination.

The Board finds that the Veteran's death was not caused by or substantially or materially contributed to by a disability incurred in or aggravated by his active duty service, including his service-connected residuals of brain trauma.

The Veteran's appeal is being remanded for additional development, including a VA examination to assess the severity of his back disability and whether he is unemployable due to service-connected disabilities. The issue of service connection for bilateral hearing loss will also be addressed.

The Board has remanded the case for compliance with directives from a previous remand, including obtaining missing service treatment records and updated medical records. The Veteran's claim will be reconsidered based on this additional evidence.

The Board has determined that the Veteran's current bilateral hearing loss is at least as likely as not caused by acoustic trauma during his military service, and thus grants service connection for this condition.

The Veteran does not have right ear hearing loss to a degree recognized as a disability for VA purposes, and the claim is denied. The left ear hearing loss claim will be addressed separately.

The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for bilateral knee disability and left ear disability, as well as his requests for increased ratings and earlier effective dates. The Board found no evidence of a chronic knee disorder present until after discharge from service and concluded that any current knee disorders are not etiologically related to service.

The Board found that the appellant's current bilateral hearing loss is not related to his service, and thus denied his claim for service connection.

The Veteran's bilateral hearing loss is granted as service connected due to noise exposure during his military service.

The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for left ear conductive and sensorineural hearing loss, finding that new and material evidence had not been received to reopen the claim for conductive hearing loss. The Board also found that the Veteran's current hearing loss was not related to his active military service.

The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims due to additional development being required, including a new VA examination for his bilateral hearing loss and issuance of a statement of the case on issues related to service connection for anxiety and depression and tinnitus.

The Veteran's claims for increased evaluations of right shoulder arthritis and bilateral hearing loss have been denied as there is no evidence showing that the current levels of disability warrant higher ratings.

The Veteran's appeal is being remanded for further development and examination to determine the nature, extent, and etiology of his claimed hearing loss, right shoulder disorder, and degenerative joint disease of the lumbar spine.

The Veteran's audiometric test results corresponded to numeric designations no worse than Level I in the right ear and Level I in the non-service-connected left ear, resulting in a noncompensable disability rating for his right ear hearing loss.

The Veteran's appeal is being remanded for further development and examination to determine the etiology of his hearing loss and back disorder.

The Board found no evidence of hearing loss or tinnitus during service, and the Veteran did not have continuous symptoms after service. Therefore, the claims for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus were denied.

The Board found that the Veteran's bilateral hearing loss was not incurred in or aggravated by active service, as there is no evidence of a compensable degree of hearing loss within one year of service and no medical opinion linking his current condition to service.

The Veteran's appeal is being remanded for additional development to determine the relationship between his hearing loss and tinnitus and his military service.