Conditions Secondary to Hearing Loss and Tinnitus
The same noise exposure, and the symptoms that follow, can support several secondary claims. These are the most common.
View the Tinnitus rating pageTinnitus and noise induced hearing loss often come from the same in service exposure, and the constant ringing can drive further conditions, sleeplessness, anxiety, and depression, that VA can service connect as secondary under 38 CFR 3.310.
Tinnitus is a flat 10 percent, but its secondaries are not capped, so the mental health and sleep secondaries are frequently where the real rating is.
Conditions commonly claimed as secondary
Each opens its 38 CFR rating criteria. A listing here is not a promise of service connection.
Hearing loss is rated under diagnostic code 6100 using a table that converts pure tone thresholds and speech discrimination scores into a Roman numeral, then into a percentage.
While tinnitus itself caps at 10 percent, some secondary conditions can be considered separately when supported by medical evidence.
Hyperacusis (painful sensitivity to ordinary sounds) has no diagnostic code of its own. VA rates it by analogy under 38 CFR 4.87, and it is frequently claimed alongside tinnitus (DC 6260, a flat 10 percent) and hearing loss. On its own it is often a low or 0 percent rating, but it strengthens a broader ear-and-hearing claim.
Chronic insomnia is rated under the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders when service connected as a primary or secondary condition.
Anxiety disorders are rated under the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders.
Major depressive disorder is rated under the General Rating Formula for Mental Disorders, from 0 to 100 percent.
Meniere's disease is rated under diagnostic code 6205 at 30, 60, or 100 percent based on the frequency of attacks of vertigo and the impact on hearing.
Peripheral vestibular disorder is rated under diagnostic code 6204 at 10 or 30 percent based on attack frequency and dizziness severity.
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Open a PubMed search for the medical literature behind these secondary claims. Bring relevant studies to your treating physician or a VA accredited representative; a study supports a medical opinion, it is not the opinion itself.
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