The Veteran's bilateral hearing loss is related to in-service acoustic trauma, and service connection for this condition has been granted.,There is no persuasive evidence that the Veteran currently has a left knee disability that began during active service or is otherwise related to an in-service injury or disease.
The deciding factor: The July 2015 VA medical opinion concluded that it was less likely than not that the Veteran's current hearing loss was caused by or resulted from an event in service, based on normal hearing sensitivity at separation. However, a March 2021 private physician's opinion supported the claim, noting significant unprotected noise exposure during active duty as a Combat Engineer.,The post-service medical records do not document any left knee injury or symptoms related to service. The Veteran's current gout in the left knee is considered idiopathic and unrelated to service.
- Claimed conditions
- Bilateral Hearing Loss, Left Knee Disability
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 23, 2022
- Citation
- 22016906
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 22016906.
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.
- Denied
The Veteran's service-connected knee disabilities are rated at 10% each, and the Board finds that higher ratings are not warranted based on the evidence of record.
- Denied
The Board has determined that the Veteran's bilateral knee disabilities are not related to his active service, and thus denied both claims for service connection.
- Granted
The Veteran's bilateral hearing loss is granted as service-connected. The claims for alcohol abuse and psychiatric disorder are remanded for additional development, including a VA examination to determine the nature and etiology of these conditions.
- Denied
The Veteran's left knee disability is currently rated at 30 percent, and the Board finds no evidence of clear and unmistakable error in assigning an effective date of June 19, 2002.
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