The Board has granted reopening of service connection for bilateral sensorineural hearing loss and granted service connection for right hand osteoarthritis. The decision is based on the Veteran's in-service exposure to noise, which led to current hearing loss symptoms, and his reported injuries during service that resulted in current right hand osteoarthritis.
The deciding factor: The Board found new and material evidence to reopen service connection for bilateral sensorineural hearing loss due to continuity of symptomatology since service. For right hand osteoarthritis, the Board found a nexus between current symptoms and reported injuries during service.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, right hand osteoarthritis
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- January 8, 2020
- Citation
- 20001775
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
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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