The Board denied the Veteran's claim for service connection for bilateral hearing loss disability, finding that there was no evidence of in-service hearing loss or noise exposure and that any current hearing loss is not related to his military service.
The deciding factor: The Board found that the Veteran did not have hearing loss during service and that the lack of indication of hearing loss during service was reason to conclude there had not been any significant threshold shift during his service suggestive of permanent auditory damage to his hearing. The opinion against the claim is more probative because it considered the circumstances unique to this particular Veteran.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral hearing loss disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 0%
- Decision date
- October 28, 2020
- Citation
- 20069920
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 2,669 · Granted: 23% (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 20069920.
What this means for you
A denial is a starting point, not the end of the road. You can see why this claim fell short — and, if you are still inside the one-year window, the appeal lanes that may remain open to you.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has granted service connection for tinnitus but has remanded the issue of service connection for bilateral hearing loss disability due to inadequate examination and reasoning.
- Denied
The Board has denied the Veteran's claims for service connection for bilateral hearing loss disability and tinnitus, finding that there is no credible evidence linking these conditions to his active service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for bilateral hearing loss disability and tinnitus due to errors in providing notice of his right to a pre-decisional hearing.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has granted service connection for tinnitus but has remanded the claim of service connection for bilateral hearing loss disability due to a pre-decisional duty to assist error.
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