Service Connected Hearing Loss

By: Dan Meyer

The office hours for the Big Stone County Veterans Service Office are 7:30 am – 4:00 pm Monday through Friday. My office phone number is (320) 839-6398.

Attention all veterans! Attention all Minnesota Army National Guard members, both present and past!

What is service-connected hearing loss?

To establish service-connection, an examination for hearing impairment for VA purposes must be conducted by a state-licensed audiologist and must include a controlled speech discrimination test (Maryland CNC) and a puretone audiometric test. In other words, I’ll help you schedule a VA provided an audio compensation and pension examination at a VA medical facility.

In many instances, however, the determination whether to service-connect a veteran’s hearing impairment can be difficult and controversial. For example, a veteran may have a history of exposure to loud noises during service but does not file a claim for hearing loss until many years after service, when he or she is over 60 years old. At that point, the VA may question whether the hearing loss is due to aging (presbycusis) or to the noise exposure during service or even noise exposure after service.

In these types of cases, the CAVC has held that “a claimant may establish direct service-connection for a hearing disability initially several years after separation for service on the basis of evidence showing that the current hearing loss is causally related to injury of disease suffered in service.” Necessary evidence includes medical evidence and statements of the veteran that he or she suffered significant noise exposure during service.

What is tinnitus?

Tinnitus is a noise in the ears, such as ringing, buzzing, roaring, or clicking. The only requirement for a 10 percent ($123.00 monthly) is that the tinnitus is “recurrent.” “Recurrent” is defined as “returning or happening time after time.”

Theoretically, a veteran who experiences symptoms one or two days a month – every two months should be entitled to a 10 percent rating. Many of us veterans experience tinnitus on a constant basis as well.

Effective June 13, 2003, VA enacted a regulation codifying the standard VA practice of assigning only a single 10 percent evaluation for tinnitus, whether it is perceived in one ear, both ears, or somewhere in the head.

Please stop in and discuss your situation with me. We’ll then plot a course of action and complete all the required paperwork. It should be noted that I will complete every form required by VA with you in my office. Lastly, I will make copies of your service-connected claim and mail all the original forms/documents.

Until next week, take care and “Fair Winds and Following Seas!”