It is the experience of VAWatchdog that your 1st claim for tinnitus and hearing loss will always be denied.

While this is true of most claims, the hearing loss claim seems to be targeted for denial.

We receive many emails from frustrated veterans on this topic. We have personally observed hearing C & P exams that were so clearly inadequate that any lay person would see the errors.

Vets who have Purple Hearts or CIB's are often denied a hearing loss or tinnitus claim because they have no record of combat. We often read that the VA audiologist who conducted the exam reports that the veteran was not cooperative.

VAWatchdog recommends that you plan to appeal as it is more likely than not going to be required. The majority of appeals are won at the DRO Process appeal.

VAWatchdog also recommends that you seek a reputable civilian audiologist to perform an examination. You will probably have to pay for the exam out of pocket. This is an investment that is well worth the fee.

Hearing aids are expensive. If your hearing was damaged because of your service to our country, don't accept a denial or a low rating.

The denial of a hearing loss claim often seems absurd.

The veteran may apply for a hearing loss and tinnitus claim and the tinnitus will be awarded while the hearing loss will be denied as not service connected.  Later, that same veteran will tell his VA primary care provider that he's having difficulty hearing and VA will issue hearing aids.

The VA logic that a service connected acoustic trauma caused a tinnitus problem but didn't cause the loss of hearing makes no sense whatever.

When you make a claim for tinnitus hearing loss, you must anticipate that your application for a disability benefit will be denied. As you go along, you should be preparing your appeal. To do that is easy enough. You think of the acoustic trauma you experienced and document it as best you can.

If you were in combat, you should make notes of the sorts of weapons you were exposed to.  If you were on a flight line or servicing large engines in noisy environments, you do what you can to document that.

Documentation may be as simple as defining what your MOS means.

We also recommend that at some point in the process that you have a civilian audiologist provide a thorough examination. A link to the way VA evaluates hearing loss is just below. You'll want to print that and take it with you to the civilian. You may also take any military records that show how you were exposed to noise that may have damaged your hearing.

The civilian audiologist report should be used in the appeal.

Straining to Hear and Fend Off Dementia   


Veterans quietly manage ear pain  

 "You think about maybe getting wounded in battle, getting those kinds of scars," Cripps said after his annual hearing test at a health center on post recently. "Losing your hearing is just not something you think about."

But it's a widespread problem that affects the quality of service members' lives now and will worsen in decades to come.

Read more about tinnitus, hearing loss and how to file a claim for these disabling conditions by clicking here.  


Hearing loss the most prevalent injury among returning veterans   

After a decade of war, America is well schooled on post-traumatic stress, lost limbs and traumatic brain injury, but the most common injury sustained by U.S. troops is literally a silent wound: hearing loss. 


What's this constant ringing in my ears? Tinnitus

Wikipedia Articles

We use Wikipedia often here at VAWatchdog.

Deafness  

Tinnitus

More Wikipedia Articles  

Noise Induced Hearing Loss 

Conductive Hearing Loss 

Unilateral Hearing Loss

Spatial Hearing Loss 

Does your hearing loss make you eligible to claim a secondary disability for mental health conditions?

Service connection may be established on a secondary basis for a disability that is proximately due to, the result of, or aggravated by a service-connected disease or injury. 38 C.F.R. § 3.310(a). Establishing service connection on a secondary basis requires (1) competent evidence (a medical diagnosis) of current chronic disability; (2) evidence of a service-connected disability; and (3) competent evidence that the current disability was either (a) caused by or (b) aggravated by a service-connected disability. 38 C.F.R. § 3.310(a); see also Allen v. Brown, 7 Vet. App. 439 (1995) (en banc). The determination as to whether these requirements are met is based on an analysis of all the evidence of record and the evaluation of its credibility and probative value. Baldwin v. West, 13 Vet. App. 1 (1999); 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(a).


Link between Hearing Loss and Depression Highlighted 

Personal Health: Lifelines for People With Hearing Loss 

The Board of Veterans Appeals has awarded numerous claims of depression secondary to hearing loss.

Board of Veterans Appeals: Citation Nr: 1139373   

Service connection for depression secondary to service-connected hearing loss and tinnitus, is granted, on the basis of aggravation.

Board of Veterans Appeals: Citation Nr: 1116719  

Service connection for adjustment disorder with depressed mood, as secondary to the service-connected hearing loss, is granted.

Board of Veterans Appeals: Citation Nr: 1101172  

Service connection for reactive depression is granted.

Board of Veterans Appeals: Citation Nr: 1003291  

Service connection for an acquired psychiatric disorder, as secondary to service-connected bilateral hearing loss, is granted.

Hearing Loss in Older Adults — Its Effect on Mental Health   

How To File A Claim For A Secondary Condition   

More suffer from hearing loss than expected, study shows   

Jim's Mailbag...The best of Jim's Mailbag is hosted at Stateside Legal.



Jim;

I was reading the VA Watchdog site, as I always do, and I could not help but reflect on the life long effects of my own war caused disabilities. As a combined 280% disabled Vietnam vet with A/A there is so much in the world that I miss out on. Besides the emotional trauma of PTSD  and physical wounds there are two disabilities that rank among the highest disabilities. Those are blindness and deafness.

I have all my extremities. What I don't have is peace of spirit due to PTSD and, most of all, good hearing. I have not heard the sweet song of a bird in four decades. I cannot go into public places or even family functions without feeling left out due to my inability to hear what is being said. All I hear is noise. I cannot distinguish the noise with words. It all adds to more loneliness on my part and I feel left out in every aspect of life. I wish I could trade my poor hearing for a lost extremity. I would love to sit in a wheelchair in a park and hear the sounds of nature instead of sitting there and hearing nothing.

I'm not trying to belittle those wonderful wounded vets who have lost body parts in defense of our great nation but I am asking every vet to understand too that  those of us who lost our sight or hearing are every bit as much disabled as those who have lost a limb.

God bless you all. One day we will all go a place where no one has defects or suffering.

Reply;

Your email really touched me. My dad was a combat veteran. He was 18 years old when he went with the first wave of marines to land on Iwo Jima. By then, his ears were bleeding. He had been aboard one of the Navy ships that bombarded Iwo Jima for days in advance.

He was an engineer with the 4th Marines. He told me of nights when he'd fall asleep, or simply pass out from fatigue, next to some artillery.

He was a machine gunner, an ordinance disposal professional, a rifleman and above all else, he was a proud marine. He retired at age 36 as a Master Gunnery Sargent E-9.

His hearing was shot all to hell. By his late 40s he was more or less deaf. He applied for some help from VA and was denied. The VA informed him that there was no record of his participating in any combat. They ignored his Iwo Jima service, his Korean War service and his 3 Purple Hearts. For the next 25 years, he bought his own hearing aids. He spent an average of about $4000.00 each year until I learned about it. I refiled for him and he received a 30% rating for loss of hearing. His tinnitus was denied. It wasn't long after that he passed away, cursing the VA the whole time.

His hearing loss was profound. He gave up any social activities because he felt foolish trying to communicate with people. He couldn't go to a movie, shop at a mall or do any small task that required him to meet strangers. He denied depression but his depression was apparent to me.

Most people don't think about hearing loss as anything other than a slight annoyance. They don't recognize that it's more than a loss of hearing, it's a set of symptoms that can reduce a conversation into unintelligible noise. There may be roaring sounds like a train on a track. Any normal sounds, such as the background noise in a restaurant, can become such a cacophony of jumbled sounds that it becomes frightening. Hearing aids provide little help to many sufferers. They may amplify sounds but not filter them correctly.

Many veterans become withdrawn and seem antisocial. It's embarrassing to have strangers speak to you and you can't figure out what they said.

Thanks for your message. I'm going to publish this as a reminder to everyone of just how serious a disability this can be.


Jim;

It is not usual that reading your site brings me close to tears (cussing, often - tears, seldom) but today's VAWatchdog.org mailbag from the 280% VN vet lamenting about his hearing loss and your personal reply regarding your father's hearing loss really touched me.  I, too, had a WWII veteran father with SC hearing loss.  He was lucky.  His was covered under VA and he got excellent care, hearing aids, and batteries and was able to continue conversing with people and being active until the CHF got the better of him in his mid 80s.  The vet's letter and your reply made me realize that we took Dad's ability to hear with his hearing aids for granted.  When he was in cardiac ICU we could always tell when he was on the mend because he would ask for his teeth, his hearing aids, and a paper.

You have mentioned that many VA employees read your site.  It would be my prayer that today's mailbag and reply would be required reading by everyone in the entire claims processing chain of command, especially the raters, to give them a true disability picture beyond what the tests may measure and the rating schedule may dictate.  This column so clearly shows the quality of life issues that can be affected by hearing loss and tinnitus.

Thank you, Jim, for all you do for veterans and their families.

Please let your VN vet know that today, as I go about my day, chatting with others I encounter, I will see the birds and revel in their color and hear their song with joy in my heart on behalf of the veteran who wrote, your father, my father, and all the other veterans in a similar situation.  I humbly thank you both for reminding me of the things I have that I take for granted.

Sincerely,

TSS





Jim's Mailbag...The best of Jim's Mailbag is hosted at Stateside Legal.


Jim;  You are a jerk, get your facts straight 


Mr. Strickland;

Regarding your C & P exam process and how "mistakes WILL be made". I don't make mistakes in my exams and my husband is a veteran, so I do have a little compassion here. I err on the side of the vet and I perform my exam perfectly. Any veteran that walks into my office is my priority and they will get the appropriate exam and the exact outcome that is the TRUTH.

I can't believe you have the audacity to say "don't let them know you know more than them". This is ridiculous!  I know exactly how to fill out a DBQ. What are you talking about? Are you a physician? Are you an audiologist? By the way, under hearing loss and the VA, you are a real jerk to post ads from hearing aid peddlers, because top-of-the-line hearing aids are my specialty - FREE AT THE VA.  Why would you ever have solicitation for a veteran to buy them to the tune of an average of $6k on your website, which is supposed to be for the veteran?  if you are a vet and have a hearing loss, you qualify for hearing aids.  End of story!  Get your facts straight and get your unethical hearing aid ads taken down.

(Signed)

Army Wife and VA employee that does it right, every time

Reply;

Thank you very much for your message. I appreciate the fact that you are angry. In fact, you should be angry. Please allow me to explain.

I am not a physician. I'm a retired health care professional and health care business consultant. I'm well qualified to speak of the problems that exist in health care facilities. I understand how to find the faults in almost every arena within hospitals. You don't tell me just what it is you do for VA but I'll assume you're an audiologist.

My criticism of VA C & P hearing exams comes from a lot of personal experience. I've witnessed dozens of exams up close and personal as an advocate and as a family member.

For example...my father was a marine. He was one of the first wave of marines landing on Iwo Jima and it was there that his hearing was damaged. He spent 20 years in the USMC retiring as an E-9. He asked for hearing aids from VA and applied for disability benefits. He was denied by the RO. They said there was no record of combat in his military file. They didn't mention his 3 Purple Hearts.

When you tell us "if you are a vet and have a hearing loss, you qualify for hearing aids" you show your lack of knowledge about how the VA disability claims process works. Most vets who apply for hearing loss benefits are denied. That you believe you know anything of the disability claims process is exactly the reason I urge veterans to stay away from advice from VA hospital employees. You don't make the benefits decision, you only do one exam.

I appealed my dad's claim. I took him to our VA hospital. The audiologist who met us there was 25 minutes late. She was obviously angry that she had to work on a Saturday. She was unbelievably rude.

She put him in the exam booth with no explanations that he could understand. He was profoundly hard of hearing, for all practical purposes he was deaf. She spent less than 5 minutes with him and told us she was finished. I got the report and she remarked that he was uncooperative. Her report made no sense. He couldn't hear her to follow her instructions. That isn't being uncooperative, that's being deaf.  I took him to a civilian audiologist where he got a proper exam and I used that report to substantiate the appeal. He received 30%. We were appealing other things when he died.

I've witnessed this same scenario with many other veterans.

As an advocate I attend many C & P exams with clients. Some C & P examiners do a good job. Unfortunately, most don't. I'm afraid that it's my experience that the audiology exams are usually very poorly done.

I'll wager that I've seen many more C & P reports than you have. My opinions are validated by those reports. Any time that a veteran has been denied a service connection for a hearing related condition and I believe the claim is well grounded, I advise the veteran to obtain a civilian exam using VA protocols (I supply veterans the protocols) and I have never lost an appeal for hearing loss.

That fact alone tells you there is a problem.

You should be angry. You should be enraged and you have every right to yell. However, you're yelling at me and all I'm doing is reporting the facts. I don't make this stuff up. I observe and report. My reputation is that I am truthful and my reports are factual, reliable and credible.

You're guilty of shooting the messenger. You should yell at your professional colleagues...the ones who are doing sloppy work and causing veterans years of trouble. You should yell at the audiologists who report "The veteran was not cooperative...". That's a shortcut to cut their workload and we all know it.

Remember that you aren't the only one who is doing exams for VA. If you do all you say you do to help veterans, good, that's what you get paid for. You don't earn applause for doing your job, you get a good paycheck. We're here to shine a light on the others who don't do the job they're supposed to do. We don't make this stuff up.

Your message also brings up a serious problem regarding your own credibility. You told me, "I know exactly how to fill out a DBQ."

There are no DBQ's for hearing loss. On a VA question and answer page it states:

   Q: Which DBQs are not available for use by private providers?

   A: There are no DBQs for the following medical examinations:  Hearing Loss and Tinnitus


Furthermore, since you never tell us what you do for VA, we will have to assume you're an audiologist. In other words, you aren't a physician. Thus, you aren't qualified by VA to complete a DBQ. On the Q & A page it clearly states:

   Q:  Who is authorized to complete a DBQ?

   A:  Providers with active medical licenses must sign and attest to a medical condition on completed DBQs.

If you are an audiologist you don't possess the active medical license to complete a DBQ. You aren't a physician.

Your angry message to me is a terrific demonstration of why I caution vets that they must defend themselves from VA employees like you. If you do a good job, fine. If you think you should be completing non-existent DBQ's or if you are completing other DBQ's and falsifying the signature, you aren't part of the solution, you're a part of the problem.

Finally; Nothing is "FREE AT THE VA" as you say those hearing aids are. We veterans don't get free health care. We receive health care we paid for a long time ago. VA doesn't give us anything we haven't earned.

We don't need to write any fiction here on VAWatchdog, our VA provides us with enough ugly truth to keep these pages filled.