The Board has remanded the case due to insufficient medical opinion regarding whether the Veteran's current bilateral hearing loss disability is related to in-service noise exposure. The RO must obtain additional VA treatment records and provide an addendum medical opinion.
The deciding factor: The medical opinion provided by the November 2017 VA examiner was inadequate as it did not address the claimed in-service noise exposure to the current hearing loss disability.
- Claimed conditions
- Bilateral Hearing Loss Disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 15, 2019
- Citation
- 19163552
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 19163552.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for a bilateral hearing loss disability, psychiatric disorder, lumbar spine disability, hypertension, and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) as the evidence did not support a finding that these conditions were related to the Veteran's military service.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings and service connection, finding no evidence of a nexus between his current disabilities and his military service.
- Partly granted
The Veteran's service-connected posttraumatic stress disorder is granted an initial rating of 50 percent, and some claims for service connection are denied while others are remanded.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the claims for service connection and higher initial disability ratings due to concurrent elections under the Appeals Modernization Act, and denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss as there was no evidence of a current disability or nexus to service.
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