The Veteran's claim of service connection for bilateral hearing loss, left and right knee disabilities, and sleep apnea has been granted. The claims for left and right knee disabilities have not been reopened due to lack of new and material evidence. Service connection for sleep apnea is denied.
The deciding factor: Service connection was established for bilateral hearing loss as a direct result of in-service noise exposure. Left and right knee disabilities were found not related to service or a service-connected disability, and the Veteran's claim for sleep apnea was denied due to lack of evidence supporting its relationship with PTSD.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral hearing loss, left knee disability, right knee disability, sleep apnea
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 5, 2019
- Citation
- 19108555
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,963 · Granted: 32% (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 19108555.
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.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal for service connection of bilateral hearing loss and a ruptured right ear drum was dismissed due to the death of the Veteran.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's appeal is remanded for additional development, including a new VA examination to assess his bilateral knee and hip disabilities.
- Denied
The Board found that the Veteran's bilateral hearing loss was noted upon entry into active duty service and did not increase in severity during service. Therefore, it denied his claim for service connection.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for bilateral hearing loss, migraine headaches, and PTSD due to additional development of records and examination.
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