The veteran's bilateral sensorineural hearing loss and depression were not incurred in or aggravated by his military service, and the veteran's depression is not proximately due to, the result of, or aggravated by a service-connected disability.
The deciding factor: Without evidence of complaints or treatment for hearing loss during service or even shortly after discharge, and given that the first evidence of hearing loss was several years post-service, an opinion regarding its etiology could not be made without resorting to speculation. For depression, there is no competent medical evidence suggesting it is due to military service, including as caused by a service-connected disability.
- Claimed conditions
- Bilateral hearing loss, Depression
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- April 14, 2008
- Citation
- 0812334
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,669 · Granted: 23% (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 0812334.
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- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's appeals of the initial ratings for his service-connected chronic cough and bilateral hearing loss are remanded due to procedural errors in the evidentiary record.
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