The Veteran's Major Depressive Disorder is granted as service-connected. The Veteran's bilateral hearing loss disability does not warrant a compensable rating.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner found the Veteran’s acquired psychiatric disorder (anxiety disorder) to be at least as likely as not due to her military experiences, and major depressive disorder was diagnosed based on DSM-5 criteria in a private psychological evaluation. For hearing loss, the VA examinations showed no exceptional pattern of hearing impairment and the Veteran's speech recognition scores were below 70%.
- Claimed conditions
- Major Depressive Disorder, Bilateral Hearing Loss
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 0%
- Decision date
- June 12, 2019
- Citation
- 19145680
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,480 · Granted: 26% (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 19145680.
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.
- Granted
The Veteran's major depressive disorder is found to be caused by his service-connected low back and radiculopathy disabilities, which prevent him from doing enjoyable activities and daily living tasks.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for an increased rating for PTSD and TDIU are being remanded due to the need for additional development, including a new VA examination.
- 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.
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