The Veteran's travel to the Albuquerque VAMC on February 28, 2024, was related to his service-connected hearing loss and he received a replacement part for his cochlear implant. The claim was initially denied as untimely filed but the Board found that the appointment had been completed by March 4, 2024, and applied the benefit of the doubt in favor of the Veteran.
The deciding factor: The Board applied the benefit of the doubt to find the claim timely filed due to the replacement part being received after the initial filing date.
- Claimed conditions
- hearing loss, service-connected hearing loss
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- November 6, 2024
- Citation
- A24072530
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 907 · Granted: 35% (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 A24072530.
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 service connection for hearing loss, tinnitus, and an acquired psychiatric disorder due to incomplete medical records and need for further examination.
- Granted
The Board has reopened the Veteran's claim for service connection for hearing loss and tinnitus. However, it was determined that the Veteran does not have a current disability of bilateral hearing loss or tinnitus for VA purposes, thus denying both claims.
- Denied
The Veteran's tinnitus and hearing loss claims are denied as there is no current diagnosis of these conditions.,The Veteran's high cholesterol, dementia, stroke, prostate cancer, cataracts, diabetes, hypertension, CHF, and myocardial infarction claims are denied due to lack of service connection evidence or insufficient evidence to establish a nexus between the disabilities and active duty service.,The Veteran was exposed to toxins during his military service but there is no evidence linking these exposures to any of the claimed conditions.
- Granted
The Veteran's service-connected PTSD prevented him from securing and following a substantially gainful occupation.,Given the grant of TDIU based on his service-connected PTSD, the Veteran has a single service-connected disability rated as total (PTSD) and additional service-connected disabilities independently ratable at 60 percent or more.
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