The Board has granted service connection for hearing loss in the right ear, but has remanded the issues of service connection for DJD of the lumbar spine and DJD of the right knee due to conflicting opinions from VA examiners.
The deciding factor: The Veteran's pre-existing right ear hearing loss was aggravated by noise exposure during service. The Board found that his DJD of the lumbar spine and DJD of the right knee were not aggravated beyond their natural progression, but remanded for clarification on this point.
- Claimed conditions
- Hearing loss, right ear, Degenerative joint disease (DJD), lumbar spine, Degenerative joint disease (DJD), right knee
- How they argued it
- Aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- August 20, 2020
- Citation
- 20055227
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 20055227.
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.
- Denied
The Veteran's claim for service connection for hearing loss in the right ear has been denied. The Board found that there is no current diagnosis of right ear hearing loss and thus, cannot establish a link to service. For prostate cancer, the Veteran's claim is remanded as VA did not provide an opinion regarding whether his condition may be related to service due to toxic exposure.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for right ear hearing loss, denied earlier effective dates for the evaluation of right ankle and peripheral vestibular disorders, and denied increased ratings for right ankle and peripheral vestibular disorders as well as a compensable rating for right ear drum perforation.
- Denied
The Board denied service connection for hearing loss, right ear; an initial rating in excess of a noncompensable rating for hearing loss, left ear; and service connection for pain and dysfunction of the right knee, right sciatic radicular pain and parasthesia of the right leg, left sciatic radicular pain and parasthesia of the left leg. The claims were remanded for further development.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the appeal for service connection for degenerative joint disease of the right knee, right shoulder, left shoulder, and left knee as well as diabetes mellitus type II due to an untimely Notice of Disagreement (NOD) filed more than one year after the initial denial.
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