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Tinnitus (ringing in the ears) is extremely common in veterans and is generally rated at a single 10% level. Claims often succeed on credible lay statements of in-service noise exposure and continuity of symptoms.
VA rating schedule, diagnostic code 6260
Tinnitus is the medical name for ringing, buzzing, hissing, or roaring sounds you hear when there is no outside noise. The VA treats it as a hearing (auditory) condition. To be "service-connected," the VA generally looks for three things: a current diagnosis of tinnitus, an event or exposure during service (such as loud noise from weapons, aircraft, or machinery), and a link between the two. The VA can grant service connection for recurrent tinnitus no matter what caused it, as long as that connection to service is shown.
The VA rates tinnitus under 38 CFR 4.87, Diagnostic Code 6260. The rule sets a single, flat 10 percent rating for recurrent tinnitus. That 10 percent is the maximum under this code, and it is the same whether you hear the sound in one ear, both ears, or in your head. Under the notes to DC 6260, the VA assigns only one evaluation for recurrent tinnitus, but that tinnitus rating may be combined with separate ratings for hearing loss or related ear conditions (such as Diagnostic Codes 6100, 6200, or 6204). The VA does not rate "objective" tinnitus (a sound others can actually hear) under this code; instead it is rated as part of whatever underlying condition is causing it.
Tinnitus is not named on the VA's special exposure presumptive lists — for example, the Agent Orange herbicide list, the Camp Lejeune water list, and the burn-pit/PACT Act lists under 38 CFR 3.309 do not include tinnitus by name, so those pathways usually do not remove the need to link tinnitus to service. There is, however, a different presumptive route: the VA recognizes "other organic diseases of the nervous system" as chronic diseases under 38 CFR 3.309(a), a group the VA has long applied to conditions like tinnitus and hearing loss. If such a chronic disease appears to at least a 10 percent (compensable) degree within one year after you leave service, and the other rules of 38 CFR 3.307 are met, the VA may presume it is connected to service even without proof of symptoms during service. A denial is not the end of the road — the VA has appeal and supplemental-claim options if you have new evidence.
This is general educational information about how the VA's rules work, not legal advice or a VA decision about your own claim.
Grounded in federal regulations and VA guidance, independently reviewed June 2026. Educational information, not legal advice or a VA determination.
Across 86,613 Board decisions mentioning Tinnitus (ringing in the ears)
A denial is often not the end either — remands (shown below) are sent back for more development and can still end in a grant. These are whole-decision outcomes, not condition-specific success rates or a prediction of your case.
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These are decision-level labels in granted or partly granted decisions mentioning Tinnitus (ringing in the ears). They do not establish which theory succeeded for this condition.
Ratings from individual decisions are not shown until verified against the original source. This does not mean that no rating was assigned. Check the original Board decision.
A decision may address several conditions. Its overall outcome or exposure tags do not establish what happened to each individual claim. Verify the specific issue against the original Board decision.
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