What is the easiest VA disability claim you could ever hope to get?
Anybody? Well, nobody guessed it: it’s tinnitus. But before we dive into tinnitus, let’s take some time to talk about hearing loss or hearing impairment in general.
I’m often reminded of that scene in Good Morning Vietnam where Robin Williams impersonates an artilleryman requesting a song and says, “Just play it loud.” As a veteran, if you’ve been around loud noises from gun battles, artillery, mortars, or heavy equipment, you’ve likely experienced some deafening sounds during your service. Today, we’re discussing the entitlement to service connection for impaired hearing and hearing loss.
The VA has specific threshold requirements in their regulations, dealing with frequencies and auditory thresholds, but let’s keep it simple and talk about hearing impairment in general and what you need to do to have a successful claim. The VA often rates hearing loss claims mechanically under their rating schedules without discussing how the hearing loss affects your daily life.
Tips for VA Hearing Loss Claims
Here’s a big tip: let the VA know how your hearing loss impacts your everyday activities. If you avoid large crowds due to your hearing loss or it has an unusual impact on your daily life, ensure the VA examiner discusses these effects on your occupational functioning and daily activities.
For example, if you can’t work in a call center because you can’t hear the phone calls, make sure to let the VA know. You have a blank canvas when filing your disability claim—paint the picture as best as you can. While the VA’s rating criteria for hearing loss considers the functional effects of decreased hearing and difficulty understanding speech in a work environment, it doesn’t fully account for the impact on daily living. That’s what you need to convey to the VA.
Do you experience ear pain, dizziness, loss of balance, or social isolation due to communication difficulties? Personally, I have tinnitus, which we’ll discuss in a bit. When I’m in large crowds, I sit at the end of the table and do my best to read lips because I can’t make out what people are saying. Make sure to argue that your hearing loss complaints warrant extra-schedular consideration.
VA Benefits for Tinnitus
Now, let’s talk about the easiest benefit to get, according to some in the VA, and that’s tinnitus. Tinnitus is a constant ringing, buzzing, roaring, or clicking sound in the ears. For me, it’s a constant ringing in both ears. Tinnitus can develop gradually or suddenly and can be triggered months or years after an underlying cause, such as hearing loss. This adds to the difficulty of determining when it started, whether during or after service.
The good news is that the only requirement for a 10% evaluation is having recurrent tinnitus. The VA doesn’t necessarily look at when you developed tinnitus, just that you have it and it’s recurrent—meaning it happens time after time. My tinnitus is constant, every second of every day, which qualifies as recurrent. Theoretically, veterans experiencing symptoms once or twice a month should be entitled to a 10% rating.
Additionally, you can combine your tinnitus rating with other evaluations under certain diagnostic codes, as long as tinnitus doesn’t support the evaluation under another code. A single 10% disability rating is available for tinnitus, whether it’s perceived in one ear, both ears, or in your head.
So, how can you increase your rating if you’re stuck at 10%? You can’t, as 10% is the maximum for tinnitus. However, if you have hearing loss or dizziness associated with your tinnitus, these symptoms can cause feelings of despair and anxiety. Estimates suggest that 50-80% of people with severe tinnitus also experience depression, anxiety, and other behavioral disorders.
If you have other behavioral disorders, depression, or anxiety because of your tinnitus, that’s a separate diagnostic code. Do you have extreme sensitivity to noise (misophonia) or a fearful reaction to loud sounds (phonophobia)? These conditions can relate to your tinnitus and contribute to your overall disability rating.
There’s no magic pill to increase your tinnitus rating, but if you have other issues related to or secondary to your tinnitus, you could increase your overall rating with those other conditions.
Contact Us for Help!
If you need assistance with VA disability benefits for tinnitus or hearing loss, complete this form or give us a call at (229) 226-8183. If you’d like to see this blog in video format, you can watch it below. Please be sure to SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel and click the bell notification button so that you’re notified each time we publish a new video.