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Denied

The veteran's initial claim for service-connected left ear hearing loss was granted with a noncompensable evaluation, effective from June 26, 1989. The RO also denied entitlement to a 10 percent evaluation based on multiple, noncompensable disabilities and an increased evaluation for tinnitus. The decision is denied.

The deciding factor: The veteran's left ear hearing loss was rated as Level I-II (no higher than 21 decibels in the left ear with speech recognition ability no lower than 84%), which corresponds to a noncompensable rating under VA regulations. For multiple disabilities, the maximum schedular evaluation is 10 percent when one ear has service-connected hearing loss and the other ear is rated as normal (level I). The veteran's tinnitus was not persistent prior to June 10, 1999, but became recurrent thereafter.

Claimed conditions
left ear hearing loss
How they argued it
Direct service connection
Exposure basis
None
Rating assigned
10%
Decision date
August 14, 2002
Citation
0209807

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 0209807.

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