The Board has ordered a supplemental opinion to determine if the Veteran's symptoms of decreased concentration, poor social interaction, difficulty following instructions, hearing difficulties, difficulty understanding conversations, and sleep troubles are related to his service-connected bilateral sensorineural hearing loss and tinnitus.
The deciding factor: The VA audiologist was asked to provide an opinion on whether these effects are attributable to the Veteran's hearing loss and/or tinnitus.
- Claimed conditions
- Bilateral Sensorineural Hearing Loss
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 28, 2019
- Citation
- 19167048
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 19167048.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the issue of entitlement to service connection for bilateral sensorineural hearing loss due to a duty to assist error regarding an incomplete medical opinion.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for bilateral sensorineural hearing loss as the evidence did not support a finding of a nexus between the Veteran's current condition and his military service.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected PTSD with persistent depressive disorder is found to have contributed to his death, granting service connection for the cause of death. DIC benefits are denied as the Veteran was not continuously rated totally disabled for at least ten years prior to death.
- Granted
The Veteran's PTSD with major depressive disorder and TBI, along with other service-connected conditions, are now rated at 100% effective August 29, 2018. A 50% rating is granted for tension headaches effective from the same date. SMC at the housebound rate is also granted effective from that date.
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