The Veteran's bilateral tinnitus is related to his active military service, and the Board has granted service connection for this condition.
The deciding factor: The Veteran reported continuous symptoms of tinnitus since exposure to noise during service, which was found credible. The VA examiner opined that the current tinnitus is at least as likely as not secondary to a nonservice-connected bilateral hearing loss disability rather than his in-service noise exposure. However, due to the Veteran's competent reports and the application of presumptive service connection for chronic diseases under 38 C.F.R. § 3.309(a), the Board granted service connection.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral tinnitus
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 9, 2018
- Citation
- 18140979
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 18140979.
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 Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for bilateral tinnitus, finding that the evidence did not support a link between the condition and the Veteran's military service.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for an earlier effective date, service connection for bilateral hearing loss, and service connection for insomnia.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew the appeal for service connection for bilateral tinnitus and bilateral hearing loss, resulting in their dismissal.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for hypertension and remanded the claims for bilateral tinnitus, right knee osteoarthritis, and left knee osteoarthritis due to inadequate medical evidence.
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