The Board has ordered a remand to ensure the Veteran is afforded an appropriate VA examination to address his bilateral hearing loss disability, specifically addressing his July 2009 speech discrimination scores and previous audiograms. The appeal will be returned for further adjudication.
The deciding factor: The examiner must provide an opinion as to whether it is at least as likely as not that the Veteran has or had a bilateral hearing loss disability at any time during the course of the appeal (May 2007 to the present) which was incurred in or is otherwise related to service, specifically addressing his July 2009 speech discrimination scores and previous audiograms.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral hearing loss disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 16, 2016
- Citation
- 1643572
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 1643572.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
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 granted service connection for tinnitus but has remanded the issue of service connection for bilateral hearing loss disability due to inadequate examination and reasoning.
- Denied
The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for bilateral hearing loss disability and tinnitus, finding that there is no credible evidence linking these conditions to his active service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for bilateral hearing loss disability and tinnitus due to errors in providing notice of his right to a pre-decisional hearing.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has granted service connection for tinnitus but has remanded the claim of service connection for bilateral hearing loss disability due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error.
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