The Board found that the Veteran's current bilateral hearing loss disability is not related to his active duty service, as there was no evidence of significant threshold shifts or noise injury during service. The preponderance of the evidence does not support a finding that the Veteran's hearing loss is causally related to military service.
The deciding factor: The VA examinations and medical literature provided by the Board indicate that the Veteran's hearing was within normal limits at separation from service, and there was no significant degradation of puretone thresholds beyond normal variability. The IOM study concluded that a prolonged delay in the onset of noise-induced hearing loss is unlikely.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral hearing loss
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- September 12, 2017
- Citation
- 1738294
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 1738294.
What this means for you
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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.
- 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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to insufficient evidence regarding the Veteran's bilateral hearing loss claim, specifically needing an addendum opinion from a VA examiner. The Veteran will be asked to provide any missing records and former employers' information.
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