The Board denied service connection for a lumbar spine disability, left foot disability, bilateral hearing loss, and tinnitus. Service connection was granted for tinnitus.,Service connection was not established for the Veteran's lumbar spine disability, left foot disability, bilateral hearing loss, or deviated nasal septum.

The deciding factor: The Board found no evidence of a chronic lumbar spine disability during service and insufficient post-service medical evidence to establish a nexus between current back pain and service. The Veteran did not have a current diagnosis for his left foot disability and the in-service boot issue was not credible.,Service connection was denied as there is no evidence of a pre-existing left foot disability, and no competent evidence linking any current left foot condition to service. There were no complaints or treatment records indicating a left foot disability during service.,The Board determined that the Veteran did not have a hearing loss disability for VA purposes due to his average decibel loss being below 20 dB in both ears and speech recognition scores of 100% bilaterally, which is not considered a disability. The Veteran denied having hearing loss as recently as December 2014.,The Board found no evidence of tinnitus during service or at separation, and the Veteran's current reports were insufficient to establish a nexus between his current tinnitus and service. Service connection was denied.

Claimed conditions

bilateral hearing loss, deviated nasal septum, left foot disability, lumbar spine disability, tinnitus

How they argued it

Direct service connection

Exposure basis

None

Rating

Not verified here — check the original decision

Decision date

December 12, 2019

Citation

19192543

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. Read the original VA decision (opens in a new tab) using citation 19192543.