The Board has determined that the veteran's right ear hearing loss was aggravated by his military noise exposure, warranting service connection. The cervical spine disability is found to be at least as likely as not related to in-service neck pain.
The deciding factor: Service connection granted due to aggravation of pre-existing hearing loss and neck pain by military noise exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- Hearing loss of the right ear, Multilevel spinal stenosis of the cervical spine (claimed as neck pain)
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 23, 2004
- Citation
- 0416317
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,020 · Granted: 19% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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 0416317.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has found that a remand is necessary due to the Veteran's assertion of worsening hearing loss. The case will be returned for further development, including scheduling a VA examination and obtaining any outstanding medical records.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to an inadequate nexus opinion regarding the Veteran's hearing loss of the right ear, which may still be related to service despite no hearing loss at separation.
- Granted
The Veteran's claim for service connection for hearing loss of the right ear is denied.,The Veteran's claim for service connection for degenerative joint disease of the SI joint is remanded.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for service connection for hearing loss of both ears as there was no evidence of a current disability in accordance with VA standards.
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