The Board has granted service connection for a right ear hearing loss disability, finding that the Veteran's current condition is related to his in-service diving injury and noise exposure.
The deciding factor: The VA examiner opined that the Veteran’s right ear hearing loss was at least as likely as not caused by exposure to small and large arms fire and heavy machinery during service, which is considered potentially hazardous noise and acoustic trauma. The Board found this opinion sufficient to grant service connection for the disability.
- Claimed conditions
- Right ear hearing loss
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 18, 2020
- Citation
- 20074090
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 20074090.
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.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the claims for further development due to insufficient evidence and need for additional examinations.
- Dismissed
The appeal for service connection for a right ear hearing loss disability is dismissed. The appeal for service connection for bilateral knee disabilities is denied.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the Veteran's claims for a compensable rating for right ear hearing loss and service connection for left ear hearing loss due to inadequate audiometric examinations. The Veteran will be scheduled for new VA examinations to determine the nature and etiology of his left ear hearing loss and the severity of his hearing loss.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for earlier effective dates for service connection of hypertension and right ear hearing loss were denied. The Board has remanded these issues.,Service connection for hypertension was granted in June 2023 based on the PACT Act, but an earlier effective date is not warranted.
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