The Board granted service connection for bilateral tinnitus, finding the evidence is in approximate balance as to whether it is due to noise exposure during service.
The deciding factor: The benefit of the doubt was given to the Veteran's lay statements and the private medical opinion favoring a link between tinnitus and in-service noise exposure, despite conflicting opinions from VA examiners.
- Claimed conditions
- bilateral tinnitus
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- 100%
- Decision date
- June 13, 2025
- Citation
- A25052405
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.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for an earlier effective date, service connection for bilateral hearing loss, and service connection for insomnia.
- Dismissed
The Veteran withdrew the appeal for service connection for bilateral tinnitus and bilateral hearing loss, resulting in their dismissal.
- Partly granted
The Board denied service connection for hypertension and remanded the claims for bilateral tinnitus, right knee osteoarthritis, and left knee osteoarthritis due to inadequate medical evidence.
- Denied
The Board denied the claims for earlier effective dates and remanded several service connection claims.
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