The Board has determined that the Veteran's bilateral sensorineural hearing loss is etiologically related to in-service acoustic trauma and service connection for this condition is granted.
The deciding factor: The Veteran provided competent and credible testimony regarding diminished hearing loss during service, which was supported by his lay statements of continuity of symptomatology since separation from service. The audiometric testing results showed a significant threshold shift upon separation, indicating the presence of a chronic disease (sensorineural hearing loss) that is considered a chronic disease under 38 C.F.R. § 3.309(a).
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral sensorineural hearing loss
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 27, 2016
- Citation
- 1625626
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 1625626.
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 initial claim for service-connected bilateral sensorineural hearing loss was denied, and the rating assigned prior to September 12, 2024, is noncompensable.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, tinnitus, thoracolumbar levoscoliosis with advanced multilevel DDD and facet arthropathy (low back disability), and cervical spine disability to include cervicalgia (neck disability) due to a lack of VA examination records and an incomplete review of service treatment records.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's service connection claims for hypertension, bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, GERD, Barrett's esophagus, and arrhythmia are remanded due to pre-decisional errors in obtaining necessary medical opinions.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claim for service connection for hearing loss is being remanded due to pre-decisional duty-to-assist errors related to his Reserve component service.
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