The Board has found that the Veteran's bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus are causally related to service, but his right shoulder and left shoulder disabilities were not incurred or aggravated by service.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner provided an opinion based on noise exposure in service which caused a permanent positive threshold shift in both ears for hearing loss. For the shoulders, the Board found that there was no evidence of pre-existing disability at separation from service and the Veteran did not provide sufficient contemporaneous medical history to support his assertions.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral hearing loss, bilateral tinnitus, right shoulder disability, left shoulder disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 23, 2015
- Citation
- 1512279
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 1512279.
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal for service connection of bilateral hearing loss and a ruptured right ear drum was dismissed due to the death of the Veteran.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's right shoulder disability and migraines/chronic headaches are remanded for additional development due to insufficient opinions on the etiology of her conditions.
- Denied
The Board found that the Veteran's bilateral hearing loss was noted upon entry into active duty service and did not increase in severity during service. Therefore, it denied his claim for service connection.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for bilateral hearing loss, migraine headaches, and PTSD due to additional development of records and examination.
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