The Board has determined that the Veteran's current right and left ear hearing loss disabilities are not service-connected as they did not pre-exist his military service, or were not aggravated by it. The VA examiner found no significant threshold changes in the right ear during his military service.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner concluded that there were no significant threshold shifts in the Veteran's right ear during his military service and provided a rationale based on noise exposure studies which state that late-onset or latent effects of noise exposure are not present. The Veteran's pre-existing hearing loss was noted at entry into service, and he did not experience any significant changes in his hearing thresholds during his active duty.
- Claimed conditions
- Right ear hearing loss, Left ear hearing loss
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 11, 2017
- Citation
- 1757114
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 1757114.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for further development due to insufficient evidence and need for additional examinations.
- Dismissed
The appeal for service connection for a right ear hearing loss disability is dismissed. The appeal for service connection for bilateral knee disabilities is denied.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran's left ear hearing loss disability does not meet or approximate criteria for a compensable (10%) disability rating at any point during the appeal period.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for a compensable rating for right ear hearing loss and service connection for left ear hearing loss due to inadequate audiometric examinations. The Veteran will be scheduled for new VA examinations to determine the nature and etiology of his left ear hearing loss and the severity of his hearing loss.
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