Tinitus

[creek chub]

Tinnitus question for the group.

my mos was a moderate risk of tinnitus according to some chart I looked at. Question is, I got out in 1992 and was never screened for tinnitus. Is a sc claim worth pursuing this late ?

[GBArmy]

Deedub75 You would need new evidence, so an audio exam from many years ago won't do you any good. The idea was to determine if it were worth pursuing for you. My point was that the VA now is supposed to grant a 0% rating, at the very least, if you didn't meet the minimum criteria for the lowest rating, which in hearing is 10%. So, I'm thinking if you tried now, and your hearing has gotten worse, you could re-submit. That said, I'm not sure I would do it if I were you as I see you are ratted 100%. Not much to gain from a 0%, or a 10% rating for you at present.

[creek chub]

1 hour ago, GBArmy said:

Deedub75 You would need new evidence, so an audio exam from many years ago won't do you any good. The idea was to determine if it were worth pursuing for you. My point was that the VA now is supposed to grant a 0% rating, at the very least, if you didn't meet the minimum criteria for the lowest rating, which in hearing is 10%. So, I'm thinking if you tried now, and your hearing has gotten worse, you could re-submit. That said, I'm not sure I would do it if I were you as I see you are ratted 100%. Not much to gain from a 0%, or a 10% rating for you at present.

I’m not a 100% service connected 

[deedub75]

54 minutes ago, creek chub said:

I’m not a 100% service connected 

He was referring to me. 

[creek chub]

1 minute ago, deedub75 said:

He was referring to me. 

My bad. I’m not good at this internet stuff

[deedub75]

2 hours ago, GBArmy said:

Deedub75 You would need new evidence, so an audio exam from many years ago won't do you any good. The idea was to determine if it were worth pursuing for you. My point was that the VA now is supposed to grant a 0% rating, at the very least, if you didn't meet the minimum criteria for the lowest rating, which in hearing is 10%. So, I'm thinking if you tried now, and your hearing has gotten worse, you could re-submit. That said, I'm not sure I would do it if I were you as I see you are ratted 100%. Not much to gain from a 0%, or a 10% rating for you at present.

Basically, I passed the hearing test. There wasn’t enough hearing loss between my last active hearing test and the test they gave me for the C&P exam. I know plenty of veterans who were granted tinnitus and denied hearing loss. You’re right though I probably should have fought it but there were so many other claims I had going on and appealing and I didn’t think hearing loss was winnable. My hearing wasn’t that bad then but it is worse now. Since I’m 100% now if I could get 60% for hearing loss then that would help me. 

[GBArmy]

creek chub If your wife is willing to sign off on a statement in support of the claim that it was apparent you had tinnus back when you got out, sure, that is strong evidence. She describes when she first realized based on your symptoms, how difficult it was for you and how it bothered you. Example we stopped going to group meetings at Church, or bingo Friday nights, etc. because you couldn't hear because of the buzzing in your ears. You also submit your own form talking about any particular event(s) that may have been the trigger for you tinnitus. Example: I was stationed in the engine room of the ship and one of the engines blew up; big explosion. Or, I worked on the flight line doing X when the F14's were starting up. Sometimes we didn't have time to put on our micky mouse ears. It is NEVER too late to submit a claim.