The Veteran's service treatment records do not show any complaints, diagnosis or treatment for tinnitus during his active duty. The VA examiner concluded that the current bilateral tinnitus is less likely than not related to in-service acoustic trauma and more likely due to normal aging-related hearing loss.
The deciding factor: There is no medical evidence linking the Veteran's current bilateral tinnitus to his service, with the most recent examination concluding it was less likely caused by in-service noise exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral tinnitus
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 11, 2019
- Citation
- 19103196
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.
- 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.
- Denied
The Board denied the claims for earlier effective dates and remanded several service connection claims.
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