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Va Turned Down Claim

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68mustang

Question

Recently I put in a claim for hearing loss and vertigo. The VA denied the hearing loss, but has let the vertigo claim go forward. The reason the VA stated for denying the hearing loss claim was that last year I had put in a claim for hearing loss, which was denied and that I did not appeal the decision within the one year time limit. I did file a claim for tinnitus, and did not file a hearing loss claim. The tinnitus claim was approved and I received a 10% rating. The award letter states that my tinnitus claim was approved and nowhere in the letter does it state that a hearing loss claim was denied. The VA also states that in order for the hearing loss claim to continue, that I need to provide new evidence which has not been previously used.

The doctor's report that I sent in last year for the tinnitus claim stated the I had tinnitus and hearing loss due to acoustic trauma while in the military.

The doctor's report was used on the tinnitus claim, should that report be allowed to support my hearing loss claim since I had not previously file for hearing loss claim in last years original tinnitus claim?

Any input that you all might have would be appreciated. Thanks.

68mustang

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is tinnitis and hearing loss separate , i filed claim for hearing loss and thought

they were same .i was diagnosed with tinnitis after a long time out of military.

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No skunk, hearing loss and tinnitus are two separate issues. Maximum rating for tinnitus, whether in one ear or both, is 10%. Even if service connected, hearing loss needs to be significant to be rated above 0%, but again, they're both separate issues. You can suffer hearing loss without suffering from tinnitus.

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No skunk, hearing loss and tinnitus are two separate issues. Maximum rating for tinnitus, whether in one ear or both, is 10%. Even if service connected, hearing loss needs to be significant to be rated above 0%, but again, they're both separate issues. You can suffer hearing loss without suffering from tinnitus.

well i did not know that , how do you aquire tinnitis?

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68, it sounds like the VA used a little known(virtually unknown to most veterans) tactic to get over on you. For some reason it has been ruled that if the VA rules on one issue but not another, the other claim can be deemed denied without notification to the veteran. At least, I remember something to that effect. If you had not filed for hearing loss, the VA might have used the doctors report for tinnitus and hearing loss as an infered claim. I think you should request a copy of your c-file to see just what is in there.

You may have to re-open with new and material evidence. Or maybe someone here has come across this and knows how to help. If I remember correctly, a while back we have discussed this issue here at Hadit. I don't remember if anyone had a solution for veterans that got screwed by this trap but it was determined that if any claim was rated with no mention of other claims in the award letter, a NOD must by filed to keep the other claim/s alive. Of course, if you hadn't personally filed for hearing loss and was not notified if the claim was infered, there was no way for you to NOD.

I could be reading more into this than there is.

Hope someone can help.

Edited by timetowinarace
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If you want a quick education on tinnitus, visit this website for the American Tinnitus Association:

www.ata.org

There's a tab labeled, "About Tinnitus" that should help.

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  • HadIt.com Elder
Recently I put in a claim for hearing loss and vertigo. The VA denied the hearing loss, but has let the vertigo claim go forward. The reason the VA stated for denying the hearing loss claim was that last year I had put in a claim for hearing loss, which was denied and that I did not appeal the decision within the one year time limit. I did file a claim for tinnitus, and did not file a hearing loss claim. The tinnitus claim was approved and I received a 10% rating. The award letter states that my tinnitus claim was approved and nowhere in the letter does it state that a hearing loss claim was denied. The VA also states that in order for the hearing loss claim to continue, that I need to provide new evidence which has not been previously used.

The doctor's report that I sent in last year for the tinnitus claim stated the I had tinnitus and hearing loss due to acoustic trauma while in the military.

The doctor's report was used on the tinnitus claim, should that report be allowed to support my hearing loss claim since I had not previously file for hearing loss claim in last years original tinnitus claim?

Any input that you all might have would be appreciated. Thanks.

Did your denial for "hearing loss" state that this doctor's report was used to come to the conclusion of the denial?

Is this doctor's report mentioned anywhere in the SOC?

If not, then I'd file an NOD for "hearing loss" and use this doctor's report as the basis of "new and material" (meaning it is new evidence that the VA had not considered in the original claim and that it was, indeed, material evidence that, if it had been considered, would have materially effected the decision.

68mustang

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