Hearing Loss/Tinnitus(Headaches/Trouble sleeping)

[theteuful]

To all,
  I am a recently retired Marine(1 Sep 2015) and have medium to severe hearing loss(I wear dual hearing aids) and Tinnitus that happened during my career(2004).  I had a C&P where they performed a Hearing Exam on me along with the word/speech recognition exam but I failed to get a copy of the results.  I wanted to inquire if anyone has also submitted for headaches & trouble sleeping due to the constant Tinnitus.  I have a seperate appt at the VA on Monday where I will try to get a copy of the results to try to gauge C&P but below are my last two reults from some tests done on base while still in military.  Anyone have any idea on possible % connection(I did review the 38 CFR).  All of your assistance is truly appreciated!
 

Hertz          R          L          R          L          R          L

1000          70         75         70        75       70        75

2000          65         70         65        70       65       70

3000          55         65         55        65       55      60

4000          55         55         55        60       55      60

Speech     48%     20%    68%     28%     68%    60%

                8 Apr 09               7 Apr 10         13 Mar 15

 

 

 

 

 

[georgiapapa]

theteuful,

I have heard of veterans filing claims for anxiety and depression due to tinnitus.  Something you may want to consider if the headaches and sleep deprivation from tinnitus is causing you to have anxiety and/or depression.  JMO

GP

 

[Berta]

Make sure you check out the VA FL ( 10-35) as to hearing loss and tinnitus under a  search here....:

Also I posted the MOS list recently here but cant seem to find it....will try some more....

Some inservice MOS's would put a serviceperson into a higher probability of HL due to acoustical trauma that many other inservice occupations and the FL 10-35 means VA has to consider that.

 

[Buck52]

If the VA did this hearing exam you can get copies at your VAMC where the hearing exam was performed.

 There's actually no test at present for the tinnitus  its a presumption that the Veteran states what he hears in his head and the sounds it makes and how it effects his way of life . you need to tell the Dr's this at your exam.

Are you waiting on a decision? how long ago was this hearing exam performed? if it was recently  then you may have to wait a bout 2 months for the results from a rater , but you should be able to get your exam reports from this exam at your VAMC with in 2 weeks after the exam.

Usually a moderate finding in hearing loss medium to severe  is 50%  you may want to go get an IMO and compare these test of you feel the rating it to low. just ask the private Audiologist to use the VA Guidelines  and the VA Maryland CNA word discrimination test found here on hadit.& lots of information on hearing loss and tinnitus.

Server profound hearing loss is needed for a higher rating  they rate both ears separately 

 

jmo

 

.................Buck

 

[boomer2]

Theteuful

Based on my calculations you may get 30% for HL. I would file a claim if I were you. I don't know about the headaches, but the trouble sleeping is an issue with tinnitus.  You can get rated for depression due to the tinnitus. You can purchase noise generators that produce white noise or wave sounds. They will mask the tinnitus and hopefully help you sleep. I was part of a study the VA did on tinnitus and they had me use some of that stuff. I have had it for over 40 years and it is extremely loud.  They say when you have hearing aids it will reduce the tinnitus and you don't hear it as loud.  Not so in my case it is still loud.

[USMC_VET]

Look at this Fast Letter, if you have a MOS listed here your tinnitus is considered presumptive.  That means basically if you say you have tinnitus and you have a MOS listed AND/OR you have a documented injury of a loud explosion you are pretty much in.

Tinnitus is most often "subjective" in that there is not test to prove or disprove it, there are certain rare forms that can actually be heard by the doctor, but most of us just have ringing in our ears.

 

Duty-MOS-Hearing-Loss-Probability-Chart-VA-Fast-Letter-10-35.pdf

[Buck52]

I have had tinnitus for years and it keeps me from sleeping until I'm dead dog tired, I think it makes it louder when I have my aids on  nothing seems to stop it   even with all those fantasy masking machines/I do use a electric fan at night....I don't know this forsure  but to me tinnitus is a sound that comes from inside your head and not from the outside, if that makes a lick of sense...for years before I knew about tinnitus  I always thought I was hearing cricketts and frogs on a creek bank...thats what my tinnites sounds like to me  and it will sure drive anyone crazy.

Lucky for me I was rated for it because I mention it to the Audologist that did my Hearing Exam.

unless the veteran gets a good Audologist that cares about the veteran  usually they don't mention tinnitus unless the veteran ask about it or lets the audologist know he hears this wired sounds in his head.

 

jmo

 

...........................Buck