Hearing Loss Claims

[Sgt D]

I got the results of my last hearing test today, I'm at 10% now and was wondering if this test will put me in line for an increase.

Left ear: 500 -35 , 1000 - 35, 2000 - 60, 3000 - 80, 4000- 90

Right ear: 500 - 30, 1000 - 35, 2000 - 45, 3000 - 90, 4000 - 100

Speech recognition scores 88 each ear.

Can someone who know's this stuff tell me what percentage I should be at.

Thanks, Sgt D

[TinCanMan]

OK, I'm seeing Puretone avg Left ear 66.25 and Puretone avg. Right ear 67.5
With a speech discrimination avg of 88 that gives Roman Numeral III in Table VI
and a rated percentage of 0% from Table VII from 38 CFR § 4.85

You say you are already at 10%. Someone either made a mistake or you posted the wrong numbers unless a previous exam resulted in "exceptional patterns of hearing impairment". This set of results doesn't qualify to use Table VIA but it would result in Roman Numeral V and a rating of 20%.

38 CFR § 4.86 Exceptional patterns of hearing impairment.

(a) When the puretone threshold at each of the four specified frequencies (1000, 2000, 3000, and 4000 Hertz) is 55 decibels or more, the rating specialist will determine the Roman numeral designation for hearing impairment from either Table VI or Table VIa, whichever results in the higher numeral. Each ear will be evaluated separately.

(b) When the puretone threshold is 30 decibels or less at 1000 Hertz, and 70 decibels or more at 2000 Hertz, the rating specialist will determine the Roman numeral designation for hearing impairment from either Table VI or Table VIa, whichever results in the higher numeral. That numeral will then be elevated to the next higher

[Sgt D]

TinCanMan

I went back and read my last two award letters and the first one they used Table VI and resulted in a 0%, On the last one they used Table VIa and that resulted in the 10%. Guess I won't mess with this for with my luck they will go back to Table VI and I'll lose the 10%. Sgt D

[TinCanMan]

We really need to have a definitive reason for how they arrived at the 10%. Unfortunately, we'll never know that. Bummer!

[TinCanMan]

Any chance you overlooked something in the decision? Something like tinnitus DC 6260? List all the diagnostic codes under 62xx series and see if there's something else under hearing in sect 4.87 you might have missed. ISTM, there has got to be some other explanation for that 10%. I know the VA is capable of making mistakes but something like this is cut and dried. Even an amateur can figure hearing loss.

[mike brown]

tcm how do i see this table. my hearing test showed @1000hz -15;2000-20; 3000-50 4000-85 avg loss 43 left ear ; rt ear 10/15/50/55 loss avg 33. with my hearing its hard to believe that its not compensable. It does say it is related to my service. Just wondering how close it was to compensable?

[Sgt D]

Originally Posted by TinCanMan

Any chance you overlooked something in the decision? Something like tinnitus DC 6260? List all the diagnostic codes under 62xx series and see if there's something else under hearing in sect 4.87 you might have missed. ISTM, there has got to be some other explanation for that 10%. I know the VA is capable of making mistakes but something like this is cut and dried. Even an amateur can figure hearing loss.

On the C&P exam the audiologist wrote: It is the opinion of this audiologist that the veterans's current hearing loss should have a greater rating than 0% service connection.
That is the only thing I can find that say's anything about changing the rating from 0% to 10%.
I already had 10% for Tinnitus since I retired in 1990.
Sgt D

[TinCanMan]

It is the opinion of this audiologist that the veteran's current hearing loss should have a greater rating than 0% service connection.

The audiologist is a medical professional. decision makers know the statutes, regulations, OGC opinions and have access to the various guidelines for deciding ratings. Decision makers don't practice medicine and are precluded from making medical decisions. I do wish the medical professionals would try to avoid opining about legal issues.

While he can opine anything he wants, the decision maker has no legal basis for an extra schedular award. Hearing issues are very cut and dried and completely objective. No wiggle room. Any decision maker going outside the schedule leaves his decision open to a C&UE by anyone reviewing the decision for what ever reason. This puts the veteran in a bad position. I don't think anyone can appreciate that more than you at the moment.

I just don't have an answer. It doesn't make sense but we'll never know unless we talk to the person that made the decision.

[TinCanMan]

how do i see this table.

The Tables are here: http://tinyurl.com/4nxh3h Scroll down to the bottom. In order to make an accurate call, I'd also need the results of the Maryland Speech Discrimination Test as well as the Puretone average you posted. The speech discrimination test makes a big difference in the results but unless they're really bad, going by Puretone only, you have pretty good hearing except for high frequency loss in left ear at the 4k range.