The veteran's service connection claims for bilateral hearing loss, lumbar spine disorder, and tinnitus are all granted. The Board found that the veteran likely has current hearing disability due to disease or injury incurred in service, a back disability secondary to disk space narrowing and degenerative changes, and tinnitus due to his now service-connected bilateral hearing loss.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner indicated that audiometric testing revealed moderate to severe sensorineural hearing loss with mild speech recognition impairment in the right ear and mild to severe sensorineural hearing loss with normal speech recognition in the left ear. The veteran's credible statements regarding noise exposure during service, combined with the private medical statement attributing the longstanding hearing loss to acoustic trauma, supported a finding of current bilateral hearing disability due to disease or injury incurred in service.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral hearing loss, lumbar spine disorder, tinnitus
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 13, 2001
- Citation
- 0107371
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0107371.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal for service connection of bilateral hearing loss and a ruptured right ear drum was dismissed due to the death of the Veteran.
- Denied
The Board found that the Veteran's bilateral hearing loss was noted upon entry into active duty service and did not increase in severity during service. Therefore, it denied his claim for service connection.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for service connection for hearing loss, tinnitus, and an acquired psychiatric disorder due to incomplete medical records and need for further examination.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for tinnitus, arthritis, and memory loss. The decision found no evidence linking these conditions to his military service.
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