Hearing loss Board decisions

The Veteran's claims for service connection for acquired psychiatric disorder, high blood pressure, headaches, sleep apnea, bilateral hearing loss, and tinnitus have been denied. The appeal is also denied as to the requests for earlier effective dates for service connection.

The Veteran's claims for an earlier effective date for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus are denied as there is no communication prior to April 2, 2012, that can be construed as a claim for service connection.

The Board has granted service connection for right ear hearing loss, finding that the Veteran's current disability is related to in-service loud noise exposure and resolving reasonable doubt in his favor.

The Veteran's claims of service connection for a bilateral knee disorder, hearing loss, and tinnitus were denied in the July 2010 rating decision. The Board found that new and material evidence has not been submitted to reopen these claims.

The Veteran's initial and increased ratings for coronary artery disease have been granted, but the claim for a compensable evaluation for left ear hearing loss is remanded. The service connection claim for residuals of head injury is also remanded.

The Board has remanded several issues related to the Veteran's service connection claims, including hearing loss, AL amyloidosis, diabetes mellitus type II, Parkinson’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, right knee disability, and left knee disability. The Veteran is also being asked to provide updated VA records for his hearing loss claim.

The Veteran's service-connected bilateral hearing loss is rated as noncompensably disabling due to no worse than Level III hearing in both ears, and the Board finds that a compensable rating is not warranted.

The Veteran's bilateral hearing loss has been granted a 20 percent rating from May 22, 2013 to October 24, 2013. For the period after October 24, 2013, no higher rating is warranted.

Service connection for bilateral hearing loss is granted. Service connection for prostate cancer, secondary to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune or herbicide agent exposure, is remanded.

The Board denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss as there was no probative medical evidence linking the condition to service, and it was not diagnosed during or within a year after discharge.

The Veteran's bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus were not shown to be related to service, as the evidence does not establish a nexus between these conditions and his military service.,The Veteran's residuals of cold weather injury in his hands and feet are denied because there is no current diagnosis or treatment records indicating such injuries.

The Board has remanded both the schedular and extraschedular evaluations for bilateral hearing loss due to unclear reasons provided in the May 2017 VA audiological examination, which used Maryland CNC word recognition scores. The examiner needs to provide a clear explanation for why these scores are inappropriate.

The Board has decided to remand the claims for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus as there is insufficient evidence regarding their relationship to noise exposure during service. The Veteran's statements about noise exposure are considered credible, but the VA examination report did not adequately address this issue.

The Veteran's bilateral hearing loss is rated as noncompensable, and his TDIU claim from October 11, 2012 to July 12, 2017 was denied due to lack of evidence showing he is unemployable because of service-connected disabilities.

The Veteran's service-connected disabilities do not prevent him from obtaining or maintaining substantially gainful employment.

The Board has determined that a new VA examination is needed to determine the etiology of the Veteran's bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus, as the current examination did not adequately address these issues.

The Veteran's bilateral hearing loss is remanded for further evaluation due to the current audiometric results not meeting VA disability criteria.

The Veteran's tinnitus is found to have had its onset during service, and the Board grants service connection for this condition.

The Board has granted the Veteran's claim for service connection for bilateral tinnitus. The decision on the hearing loss claim is remanded due to insufficient evidence.

The Veteran's claim for service connection for bilateral hearing loss is denied because there is no current diagnosis of a hearing loss disability for VA purposes.