The Board has determined that new and material evidence has been received to reopen the claim of service connection for right ear hearing loss. The objective medical evidence is in equipoise as to whether the current hearing loss is related to service, and thus the benefit of the doubt is given to the veteran.
The deciding factor: The VA found that the veteran's statements regarding combat noise exposure during service are accepted as establishing combat noise exposure, but additional medical evidence linking this exposure to his current right ear hearing loss was needed.
- Claimed conditions
- Hearing loss in right ear
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 5, 2008
- Citation
- 0841806
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 0841806.
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 Veteran's right ear hearing loss has been rated as noncompensable due to having a speech recognition score of 96 and average pure tone thresholds of 33.75, which falls within Level I in the right ear.
- Denied
The Veteran's right ear hearing loss was denied a compensable rating prior to March 14, 2023.,A rating in excess of 50 percent for the Veteran's right ear hearing loss from March 14, 2023 is also denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for hearing loss of both ears due to inconsistencies in audiometric findings and need for further clarification on the nature and etiology of his hearing loss.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case for further development, including scheduling a VA examination for corneal scar of the right eye. The Veteran's claims for service connection and initial compensable disability ratings remain pending.
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