The Veteran's claim for service connection for bilateral hearing loss is granted. The claims for increased ratings of anxiety disorder, peripheral neuropathy of the upper and lower extremities, degenerative joint disease of the right knee, total arthroplasty of the left knee, and chronic tendonitis of the left arm are all denied.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's service connection claim for bilateral hearing loss is granted based on presumed exposure to acoustic trauma during service. The claims for increased ratings are denied as there is no evidence that the current symptoms are due to active service or any other presumptive conditions.
- Claimed conditions
- Bilateral Hearing Loss, Anxiety Disorder, not otherwise specified with mixed anxiety/depressive disorder, Peripheral Neuropathy of the Upper Extremities (Right and Left), Peripheral Neuropathy of the Lower Extremities (Right and Left), Degenerative Joint Disease of the Right Knee, Total Arthroplasty of the Left Knee, Chronic Tendonitis of the Left Arm
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 16, 2019
- Citation
- 19103977
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,088 · Granted: 33% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
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 19103977.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's bilateral hearing loss is granted as service-connected. The claims for alcohol abuse and psychiatric disorder are remanded for additional development, including a VA examination to determine the nature and etiology of these conditions.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to a need for a new VA examination to assess the current severity of the Veteran's bilateral hearing loss. The issue remains under direct service connection theory.
- Denied
The Veteran's hearing loss was rated at 30 percent, the highest non-compensable rating available. The Board found that his hearing loss did not warrant a higher rating based on VA examinations and medical records.
- Denied
The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for bilateral hearing loss, finding that there was no evidence of a nexus between his current hearing loss and his active service. The Board noted that while he had complaints of earaches in service, these did not indicate a current disability.
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