tinnitus Service Connection Granted , now what ?

[Bigwrench]

Hello everyone , I'm new to the site and new to the VA as far as Disability and ratings go . I'm not sure if this post is in the right area so feel free to move it if needed.  

Army 13 Bravo 87-91

filed a claim on bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus in December 2015, in January I was called back to the VA for another test and February 8th I was granted service connection for both with a 10% on Tinnitus and 0% for the hearing loss. I am somewhat confused by the 0% Rating for the bilateral hearing loss , the reason for the 0 rating was given as a speech discrimination in right ear of 86 with avg dB loss of 46 and left ear SD of 88 with avg dB loss of 44

   The audiologist also noted a moderate to severe sensoneuroial damage to both ears 

my ear problems started at Ft Bragg 8/88 with a field training exercise where someone threw a simulator grenade under the net of our gun in the middle of the night which landed very Near my sleeping bag . I Couldn't hear for a couple days and ringing off and on since. I wore hearing protection during all live fire missions but not while sleeping on a dry fire training exercise. At that time a hearing test was done which is on record as showing hearing loss at higher hertz levels. The pre enlistment hearing test also showed perfect hearing. 

My Hearing has progressively gotten worse over the years and I really hadn't thought of filing for a claim until a hearing test was done at the VA in 2010 and the audiologist at the time recommended I file , I stewed on it and figured it would be a long drawn out hassle and not worth my time . I was issued hearing aids and life went on. Well I finally filed in December as stated due to the worsening of both conditions and was absolutely floored that a decision was made in 6 weeks which was somewhat favorable.  A friend suggested I add the sensoneuroial loss (since their most recent audiologist added this in her findings during the January 16 test) to the claim and ask for an increase in rating on the hearing loss, which I have done . Also everything has been done electronically online at the eBenefits site up to this point. 

 My questions are many but I guess I just wanted to see if there is anything else I should do or if there has been something I have done wrong up to this point to cause the 0% rating ? I uploaded copies of the audiologist statements about the sensoneuroial damage with my last request also. Any suggestions or recommendations would be appreciated , Thank you for this outlet and resource. I have been reading through a bunch of posts today and thought id introduce myself.  

[Buck52]

First off welcome to hadit and congratulation on getting the SC for tinnitus.

 Did they S.C. your hearing loss  at 0%?

if they did thats a good start  because to get a rating for hearing loss is one of the hardest claims to win.

You should NOD(Notice of Disagreement) the decision about the hearing loss  that you believe it should have been rated at least to 30/50% or what ever the test numbers would recommend for the rating  (see here on hadit)

Go get you another Hearing test From a state Private certified Audiologist Specialist.

and ask him'her to use the VA Criteria  with the Maryland CNC word discrimination test the VA uses.

and file it with your NOD

I'm no Dr but you probably have sensoneuroial bilateral Noise Induced Hearing loss & as it gets worse and we get older.  and you can ask a Dr to state that your hearing loss in his/her professional opinion is as likely as not caused from your prior military service..Dr's can say that.

JMO

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

Good Luck

Edited February 14, 2016 by Buck52
spell check

[Bigwrench]

21 minutes ago, Buck52 said:

First off welcome to hadit and congratulation on getting the SC for tinnitus.

 Did they S.C. your hearing loss  at 0%?

if they did thats a good start  because to get a rating for hearing loss is one of the hardest claims to win.

You should NOD(Notice of Disagreement) the decision about the hearing loss  that you believe it should have been rated at least to 30/50% or what ever the test numbers would recommend for the rating  (see here on hadit)

Go get you another Hearing test From a state Private certified Audiologist Specialist.

and ask him'her to use the VA Criteria  with the Maryland CNC word discrimination test the VA uses.

and file it with your NOD

I'm no Dr but you probably have bilateral Noise Induced Hearing loss & as it gets worse and we get older.  and you can ask a Dr to state that your hearing loss in his/her professional opinion is caused from your prior military service..Dr's can say that.

JMO

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

Good Luck

Buck,

  Thank you for the quick response and welcome. 

  Yes they granted service connection for the hearing loss also which as you said that's a good start. They are at least conceding that my issues started in the Army in 88 , which as I understand it from reading so much the last few days is a feat in itself most times. 

As I get older my day to day life is affected , limitations at work and just not hearing or understanding things that are said to me most days drives me and those around me batty at times lol 

 again I was amazed at how fast the initial process went but I also fear this is going to be a long drawn out process from reading others posts . Again thank you for the advice and I remember seeing a link to file a NOD and it said I had one year to file it ? I will seek out a competent audiologist locally and see if I can schedule a test as soon as funds allow. 

Edited February 14, 2016 by Bigwrench
Content left out

[Bigwrench]

Buck,

.  I went ahead and scheduled a hearing test from a local state certified audiologist , not surprisingly they are showing a higher loss than the VA test results show. 

The original VA test results are 

left ear            right ear

500hz  30              25

1000hz  25            30

2000hz  25             30

3000hz  65              65

4000hz  60               60

avg loss  44               46

Speech Disc  88%     86%

 

 

 

State Audiologist 

Left               Right

250      25       25

500.      25          25

1000     30         30

2000      35        35

3000      65        65

4000       65       70

6000       60         75

8000       50         65

Avg loss  49     50- (Used Hutskys Calculator to get these numbers)

Word recognition  75%             78%

 

Not really sure what all this means or how to do the avg loss since they appear to have tested more dB ranges 

I'm assuming I just need to upload these results to my appeal claim on eBenefits site ? Ive also contacted a VSO and hope to get by there soon. 

Edited February 22, 2016 by Bigwrench

[Buck52]

Yes submit these results as your new evidence!

[bleggett29]

With the original VA hearing test, the ratings you were awarded are correct. 10% tinnitus and 0% bilateral hearing loss. With the new hearing test you should get 10% tinnitus and 10% bilateral hearing loss. That'll give you a combined rating of 20% (and just about double your monthly VA pay) if you don't have other SC disabilities.

[Buck52]

I never did trust the VA audiology dept  they run boo-coos of veterans through there each week and no tilling how long the equipment is calibrated or replaced?

  The booth I was in was scary after they closed the door had a small window to look out  and the light bulb hanging down inside the booth had a short in it   kept going off and on.

A good certified state license or a ear specialist is the best to use in my opinion  they trump the VA Dr's

 

.........Buck