The Veteran's bilateral sensorineural hearing loss was not incurred in service and may not be presumed to have been incurred due to loud noise exposure. The Board found that the current symptoms are more likely related to post-service occupational noise exposure.
The deciding factor: The VA audiometric examination opinion concluded that the Veteran’s hearing loss is more likely due to post-service occupational noise exposure, rather than in-service acoustic trauma.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral sensorineural hearing loss
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 25, 2019
- Citation
- 19149340
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.
- Partly granted
The Board dismissed the claim for service connection for headaches and remanded claims for service connection for various other conditions, including open angle glaucoma, sensorineural hearing loss, asthma, heart disease, bladder cancer, and squamous cell carcinoma.
- Partly granted
The Board dismissed the claim for service connection for bilateral sensorineural hearing loss and denied claims for right ankle calcaneal enthesopathy and left ankle calcaneal enthesopathy. The remaining claims were remanded for further development.
- Granted
The Board granted earlier effective dates for increased ratings and service connection, as well as awards of special monthly compensation and Dependents' Educational Assistance.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for left shoulder acromioclavicular joint osteoarthritis & separation condition, bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, and sleep apnea with asthma.
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