ptsd Denied Service Connection For Hearing Loss

[PCW]

Finally got my rating letter after doing an FOI. The original was lost in the mail. Berta asked me post the exact statement for my SC hearing loss denial from my rating letter. Her request came from a post I submitted in success stories and I will do so at the bottom of this post. To support my hearing hearing loss contention I submitted my incoming hearing test which had 10s across the spectrum. On my separation hearing test some nine years later there were pretty much 5s with one 10 and a 0. I think what got me was the C&P. The examiner opined that it was as likely as not to have happened in the service, but then checked no, and commented there was no medical evidence to to prove it happened in service. Confusing I know. Tinnitus at 10% went through without a hitch. I am now going to pay for a hearing test and a letter stating it "likely as not" happened in service. I wish I had a copy of the C&P, but my DAV rep told me the contents of it. I have another trip to the Los Angeles in the offing to get all my C&P copies (done by QTC).

I am also going to apply for IU. My initial C&P for PTSD was completed mid-September 2015 and my total disability rating is 80%. I see my mental heath docs twice a week and am on medication. I do have a few ways I can go about the submission of both these contentions:

1) Get a medical letter supporting hearing loss with both my entrance/exit hearing exams and a letter from a VA psychiatrist/psychologist stating that I am unemployable and submit a new FDC using both hearing and PTSD as justification.

2) Get a medical letter supporting hearing loss with both my entrance/exit hearing exams and ask for a reconsideration, and an FDC for IU.

3) File NOD for hearing and a FDC for IU. 

Any suggestions over which is better over another? I realize that I my percentage for hearing is probably 0%, but being SC is what I believe should be the correct rating.

Here is the content of the rating letter for both PTSD and hearing loss. Any comments and suggestions are most welcome.

 

1. Service connection for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), panic disorder, persistent
depressive disorder (dysthymia).
Service connection for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), panic disorder, persistent
depressive disorder (dysthymia) has been established as directly related to military service.
An evaluation of 70 percent is assigned from April 6, 2014.The claim was filed on VA Form
21-526EZ. The requirements for processing under our FDC program were met. Therefore, a one
year retroactive effective date is warranted.
We have assigned a 70 percent evaluation for your post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), panic
disorder, persistent depressive disorder (dysthymia) based on:
• Occupational and social impairment, with deficiencies in most areas, such as work, school,
family relations, judgment, thinking, or mood
• Suspiciousness
• Depressed mood
• Suicidal ideation
• Disturbances of motivation and mood
• Panic attacks more than once a week
• Difficulty in adapting to stressful circumstances
• Difficulty in adapting to work
• Inability to establish and maintain effective relationships
• Flattened affect
• Difficulty in adapting to a worklike setting
• Anxiety
• Difficulty in establishing and maintaining effective work and social relationships
The overall evidentiary record shows that the severity of your disability most closely
approximates the criteria for a 70 percent disability evaluation.   

   

5. Service connection for bilateral hearing loss.
Service connection for bilateral hearing loss is denied because your hearing loss has not been
linked to service.
Service connection may not be established for disability due to impaired hearing unless the
auditory threshold in any of the frequencies 500, 1000, 2000, 3000 or 4000 Hertz is 40 decibels
or greater; or the auditory thresholds for at least three of the frequencies 500, 1000, 2000, 3000
or 4000 Hertz are 26 decibels or greater; or speech recognition scores using the Maryland CNC
Test are less than 94 percent. (38 CFR 3.385).
There are no audiometric findings in your service treatment records that meet the above
requirements.
Although hearing loss is not shown in-service, acoustic trauma or military noise exposure may
constitute injury of the ear. However, in this case, acoustic trauma is not shown by the evidence
of record.
VA examination findings show the left ear with 100 percent discrimination. Decibel (dB) loss
at the puretone threshold of 500 Hertz (Hz) is 25, at 1000 Hz is 30, at 2000 Hz is 15, at 3000 Hz
is 25, and at 4000 Hz is 60. The average decibel loss is 33 in the left ear. The right ear shows a
speech discrimination of 100 percent. Your right ear Decibel (dB) loss at the puretone threshold
of 500 Hertz (Hz) is 20, at 1000 Hz is 30, at 2000 Hz is 15, at 3000 Hz is 20, and at 4000 Hz is
70. The average decibel loss is 34 in the right ear.
The evidence shows that you currently have hearing loss for VA purposes, but service
connection cannot be granted without a medical link between your hearing loss and military
service. Although you currently have a hearing loss for VA purposes, there is no medical link
between your hearing loss and service. In the absence of such a link, service connection may not
be granted. In addition, there is no evidence that disabling sensorineural hearing loss manifested
itself to a compensable degree within a year of service.
The VA examiner reported the etiology for hearing loss after reviewing medical records showed
normal hearing at separation and no change in thresholds were recorded during military service.
Service connection for bilateral hearing loss is denied since this condition neither occurred in nor
was caused by service.

 

[waccamawwild]

Hearing loss is a tough one to get rated with the VA. The audio findings in my service records show I have hearing problems but I haven't been able to get the VA to support the findings on the outside. Like you I am service connected for Tinnitus. I think getting tested on your own is an excellent way to bolster your attempts to get service connected and a possible rating. Remember that these Independent medical opinions and Independent medical exams carry a lot of weight in the decision rating process. Submit as your evidence if the evidence is in your favor. Good luck and never give up!

[Andyman73]

I too had tinnitus given, no questions asked, based on my MOS.  I was given a 0% for hearing loss that was bumped to 10% after 8 years.  No explanation given, and since it didn't raise my overall rating at that time, I didn't notice the change for 8 years.

[Buck52]

I would go see a qualified Licenses Audiologist,    (JUST LET THEM KNOW YOU WANT A SECOND OPINION WITH YOUR HEARING)

Other than using the VA because you feel there equipment is not up to todays standards and it looks and feels worn out/ not calibrated ect,,,ect,,

 And ask them to use the VA Criteria and the Maryland CNC Word Discrimination test./take medical records  let the Dr review them and fill the Dr in about what you did while in the military (loud noise you was around daily) as to Noise induced hearing loss bilaterally  &.have the Dr to write his impression as to how military service caused his profound hearing loss  & in his opinion is at least likely as not caused by loud noises while in prior military service.  veteran states he was not giving protective hearing devises/plugs

Be sure and state you do not hunt/or been around loud nose since leaving the military.

I believe you are the Dr can call the VA Audiology  Dept and ask for there requirements for testing purposes

 and be sure the Dr signs  and gives his/her credentials

 

Also signed notarized  statements from family and friends  as witness to your hearing impairment.

The raters will take this over a C&P Examiner.

The cost can very so call around  a good hearing test from a respectable qualified specialist  should only be around 200/300 bucks& he cost of his/her letter as to opinion/impression to your hearing test which they will send to you in a week or two.

make copies and use for new evidence in rebuttal of the VA Examiner for your NOD

 

...jmo

 

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

Edited December 10, 2015 by Buck52

[rootbeer22]

PCW:

As everyone will tell you that hearing loss of one of the most difficult service connections to obtain even when the records warrant it? Also, once I was granted bilateral hearing loss, I was then re-tested multiple times to try and challenge it? That's despite having numerous in service tests that support the hearing loss after I was involved with a major Tank explosion in which  both eye drums were damaged and blown-out. I don't know if it's that the powers to be don't want to admit that  a lot of vets have lost their hearing and the service is a very noisy and dangerous place. It's probably worth getting and IMO/IME for your hearing? Frankly, it's very frustrating having hearing loss for me because when I talk to people or give presentations, I start raising my voice and get very loud when I speak because I can't hear very well? My wife is constantly yelling at me to turn the TV down because it's way too loud and my dog will not hang around with me because the TV is too loud and it scares her.  That all said, I had a test to determine ear damage and the CP contract exam that lasted less that 5 minutes said she could not find the damage. So I went to a prominent civilian ENT doctor who said, the damage to my right ear is so evident that it can't be missed and he put it in writing. So, a lot of it is based upon the quality of the doctor and the exam. 

 

[Andyman73]

rootbeer22,

Seems to me that contractor did not want to find your hearing loss, so she conveniently overlooked it.

[rootbeer22]

Andyman73:;

I got the SC for hearing loss before I went to that appointment, but not for the actual  ear damage as a result of the  explosion which also caused the hearing loss in the first place. Frankly, she had 11 other Vets stacked up in a very small waiting room and had numerous patient files strewn all over the floor of her office. Overall, it looked like a "shake and bake"  operation and I'm sure that I was not the only one that got overlooked that day as she was running her assembly line. I told her that I have terrible ear aches and she ignored.it in the 4 minutes she saw me. The next prominent ENT that I went to get a second opinion took 45 minutes...and said that this is something that is so evident that it can not be missed?