The Board has determined that the veteran does not have a current left ear hearing loss disability, and thus cannot establish service connection for this condition. The other issues on appeal are denied as there is no evidence of a link between any claimed conditions and service or a service-connected disability.
The deciding factor: There is no competent medical evidence linking the currently diagnosed left ear hearing loss to service or a service-connected disability, including the service-connected residuals of parotidectomy and paralysis of the left facial nerve. The veteran's assertions regarding causation are not probative as he lacks the requisite medical training.
- Claimed conditions
- Eating Difficulties, Headaches, Left Ear Hearing Loss, Left Eye Disability, Speech Impediment
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 31, 2006
- Citation
- 0602709
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,582 · Granted: 32% (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 0602709.
What this means for you
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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 denied the Veteran's claims for initial compensable ratings for obstructive sleep apnea and headaches, finding that the evidence does not support a finding of persistent daytime hypersomnolence or other manifestations consistent with a compensable disability rating under the criteria established by Diagnostic Codes. The matter is remanded to obtain additional information from the Veteran regarding his headaches and their impact on his daily life.
- Granted
The Veteran's OSA is granted as secondary to PTSD, but his headaches are denied due to lack of service connection.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claims of service connection for right ear hearing loss and a compensable rating for left ear hearing loss, finding that there was no evidence to support these claims based on in-service noise exposure or other theories.
- Granted
The Veteran's headaches, which manifested as very frequent and prolonged attacks causing severe economic inadaptability, are granted a 50 percent disability rating for the entire period on appeal.
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