The Board denied service connection for bilateral hearing loss as it was not shown to be causally or etiologically related to any disease, injury, or incident during service and did not manifest to a compensable degree within one year of separation from active duty.
The deciding factor: The October 2023 VA examiner's opinion considered all pertinent evidence of record and provided a complete rationale for the conclusion that the Veteran's bilateral hearing loss is not related to his military service, including noise exposure.
- Claimed conditions
- Bilateral hearing loss, Left knee disorder, Benign cysts of the head, neck, and back, Neck disorder, Headache disorder (secondary to a neck disorder and/or service-connected tinnitus), Acquired psychiatric disorder (secondary to a neck disorder)
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- May 12, 2025
- Citation
- A25042501
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for annual clothing allowances for a left knee sleeve, A&D ointment, hydrocortisone cream, and incontinence briefs due to lack of service connection or evidence that these items cause irreparable damage to outer garments.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claim for service connection for bilateral hearing loss, as there was no evidence of a current disability in the right ear and insufficient evidence to establish a nexus between the left ear hearing loss and service.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the matter for a medical clarification regarding whether the Veteran's service-connected epilepsy has aggravated his bilateral hearing loss.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board remands the claim for service connection for bilateral hearing loss to obtain an addendum opinion addressing the Veteran's lay statements regarding in-service acoustic trauma and a rocket blast injury.
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