The veteran's claim for separate 10 percent disability evaluations for each ear pursuant to the provisions of 38 C.F.R. § 4.87, Diagnostic Code 6260 (2004) for his bilateral tinnitus has been denied as a matter of law due to the regulations prohibiting such separate ratings.
The deciding factor: The regulation prohibits assigning separate ratings for tinnitus in each ear under Diagnostic Code 6260 or any other diagnostic code, and the veteran's claim is based on this prohibition.
- Claimed conditions
- Bilateral tinnitus
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 15, 2005
- Citation
- 0504040
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 0504040.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss and a heart disability, granted service connection for bilateral tinnitus and right knee osteochondritis dissecans, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear s/p ACL reconstruction, and denied an initial rating in excess of 50 percent for posttraumatic stress disorder with generalized anxiety disorder.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for a total disability rating based on individual unemployability due to service-connected disabilities, as the evidence did not show that his service-connected disabilities alone were of such nature and severity to preclude him from securing or following substantially gainful employment.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for service connection for PTSD, bilateral hearing loss, bilateral tinnitus, sleep disorder, erectile dysfunction, and right eye injury as new and relevant evidence was not received to readjudicate these claims.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus as there was no evidence of a current disability or that the disabilities were related to service.
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