The Veteran's appeal is denied as his service-connected bilateral hearing loss does not warrant a compensable evaluation, and the Board finds that tinnitus and a psychiatric disorder are not related to service.
The deciding factor: The Veteran has Level I hearing loss in both ears, which corresponds to a noncompensable evaluation under VA rating criteria. The examiner did not find current tinnitus or a psychiatric disorder due to service-connected orthopedic disabilities.
- Claimed conditions
- Bilateral Hearing Loss, Tinnitus, Psychiatric Disorder (to include as secondary to service-connected orthopedic disabilities)
- How they argued it
- Secondary to another service-connected condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 9, 2018
- Citation
- 1801467
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 1801467.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for depressive disorder as secondary to hypertension and tinnitus, but denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss and an increased rating for hypertension.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus, but remanded the claim for degenerative disc disease with degenerative arthritis.
- Partly granted
The Board granted readjudication of previously denied claims for service connection for PTSD and COPD, while remanding other issues including entitlement to service connection for an eye disorder, hypertension, tinnitus, a compensable rating for bilateral hearing loss, TDIU, and an initial rating for PTSD.
- Granted
The Board granted service connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus, finding that the Veteran's conditions are related to in-service noise exposure.
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