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.

 

[Andyman73]

Kinda like saying your hearing is 5X5 even though you're missing one ear completely and half the other one, right? Lol! 

And they wonder why Vets keep on saying that we're still getting screwed in spite of all the recent "fixes".

[PCW]

Went to the VA today and had a hearing test because my C&P examiner said I borderline needed hearing aids. Turns out my high frequency hearing is shot but hearing aids won't help. I told her about my C&P exam with no SC for hearing loss and my entrance exam with 10s across the spectrum and my exit exam with mostly 5s and a 0 and a 10. She said that according to those results my hearing had "improved" during my close to 9 years in the service. That can happen when one is given an entrance exam outside of a soundproof booth and an exit exam inside of one. Now I understand why no service connection was given. I'm not going to fight it - it would just cost money and further clog up the system with a possibility of a 0% service connection. If at some point I need hearing aids I qualify for them anyway.

Now I can concentrate my energies on my IU claim.

    

[boomer2]

Rootbeer22

Ask the VA for a Bluetooth device for your hearing aids. Tell them you can't communicate on your cell phone. It helps to understand the conversation I have one and it is probably the best thing they have given me. You can listen to your TV thru your hearing aids. I mute the TV and I am the only one that can hear it.