The Veteran's service connection for hearing loss in the right ear is granted. The rating for his service-connected tinnitus remains at 10 percent, and a compensable disability rating for his left ear hearing loss (to be recharacterized as a bilateral hearing loss disability) is remanded.
The deciding factor: The Board found that there was an adequate relationship between the Veteran's in-service noise exposure and his current right ear hearing loss, granting service connection. The tinnitus issue remains at 10 percent due to lack of evidence supporting a higher rating. The left ear hearing loss issue is remanded as it is intertwined with the grant of service connection for the right ear.
- Claimed conditions
- Hearing loss in right ear, Hearing loss in left ear
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 10%
- Decision date
- February 27, 2019
- Citation
- 19113927
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,421 · Granted: 31% (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 19113927.
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 Veteran's claims for TDIU, DEA eligibility based on permanent and total disability status, a compensable rating for hearing loss in the left ear, and an increased rating for major depressive disorder have all been denied. The effective dates for these decisions are not applicable as they were made after the relevant look-back periods.
- Denied
The Veteran's right ear hearing loss has been rated as noncompensable due to having a speech recognition score of 96 and average pure tone thresholds of 33.75, which falls within Level I in the right ear.
- Denied
The Veteran's right ear hearing loss was denied a compensable rating prior to March 14, 2023.,A rating in excess of 50 percent for the Veteran's right ear hearing loss from March 14, 2023 is also denied.
- Granted
The Veteran's hearing loss in his left ear is rated as noncompensable, while he is granted a 10 percent rating for his bilateral lower extremity onychomycosis.
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