The Board granted service connection for bilateral tinnitus and denied an increased rating for left ear otitis externa. The veteran's tinnitus is found to be of service origin, while his left ear otitis externa does not meet the criteria for a compensable evaluation.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner did not find any objective evidence of otitis externa during the March 2002 examination and there was no discharge or edema noted in the veteran's medical records.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral tinnitus, left ear otitis externa
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 0%
- Decision date
- February 6, 2004
- Citation
- 0403452
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 0403452.
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for bilateral tinnitus, finding that the evidence did not support a link between the condition and the Veteran's military service.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for an earlier effective date, service connection for bilateral hearing loss, and service connection for insomnia.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew the appeal for service connection for bilateral tinnitus and bilateral hearing loss, resulting in their dismissal.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for hypertension and remanded the claims for bilateral tinnitus, right knee osteoarthritis, and left knee osteoarthritis due to inadequate medical evidence.
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