Jim Fausone
Veteran Disability Lawyer
We receive hundreds of emails a
month from veterans, many of them claim hearing loss or tinnitus (ringing).
The problem is always connecting the disability to service. VA
traditionally looks only to certain types of jobs or combat status as
contributing to hearing loss or tinnitus.
Among veterans, tinnitus and
hearing loss are the most common service-connected disabilities, with more than
1.5 million veterans receiving compensation for those problems at the end of
2011. Of about 805,000 veterans who began receiving disability compensation
that year, nearly 148,000 were for tinnitus or hearing loss, according to a
recent VA report. By comparison, the next most prevalent disability was post-traumatic
stress disorder, for which about 42,700 veterans began receiving compensation
in 2011.
The VA, which has become the
nation’s largest consumer of hearing aids in recent years as policy changes
have allowed it to provide devices to nearly every veteran who needs them at
little or no cost. The VA is recognizing that multiple military occupations
may result in hearing loss, not just the most obvious. The advice to
veterans is to continue to push for these disabilities even if the VA initial
denies the claim. An excellent article on the problem is in Stars and
Stripes.
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