The Veteran's initial claim for service connection for bilateral hearing loss was denied, and his appeal for an increased rating for the same condition was also denied. The Board found that there is no evidence of a current disability related to service.,Service connection for lumbar spine DDD was denied as the Veteran did not provide sufficient evidence to establish a link between his current condition and active service.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's hearing loss has been rated based on VA criteria, which does not support a compensable rating prior to May 29, 2019. The Board found that the Veteran did not have any worsening of his hearing loss until after the August 2013 examination.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral hearing loss, multilevel degenerative disc disease (DDD) of the lumbar spine
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 18, 2019
- Citation
- 19195257
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,421 · Granted: 31% (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 19195257.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Dismissed
The Veteran's appeal for service connection of bilateral hearing loss and a ruptured right ear drum was dismissed due to the death of the Veteran.
- Denied
The Board found that the Veteran's bilateral hearing loss was noted upon entry into active duty service and did not increase in severity during service. Therefore, it denied his claim for service connection.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for bilateral hearing loss, migraine headaches, and PTSD due to additional development of records and examination.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to insufficient evidence regarding the Veteran's bilateral hearing loss claim, specifically needing an addendum opinion from a VA examiner. The Veteran will be asked to provide any missing records and former employers' information.
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