Hearing Loss VA Rating: How It’s Calculated

Under 38 CFR 4.85, a VA hearing exam must be done by a state-licensed audiologist and include two tests:

• A controlled speech discrimination test (Maryland CNC): how well you understand words
• Puretone audiometry: the quietest tones you can hear at different frequencies

Exams are done without hearing aids. A hearing test from a retail hearing aid center usually can’t be used to rate you unless it meets these requirements.

• Your puretone threshold average is the average of your results at 1000, 2000, 3000 and 4000 Hertz.
• That average and your speech discrimination score are plotted on a table to give each ear a Roman numeral from I to XI.
• The numerals for both ears are then plotted on a second table to find your percentage, from 0% to 100%.

Because the result is mechanical, the VA has very little discretion. That’s why the quality of the exam matters so much.

Exceptional patterns of hearing loss

38 CFR 4.86 provides a higher result in two situations:

• When the threshold at each of the four frequencies is 55 decibels or more, the VA uses whichever table gives the higher numeral.
• When the threshold is 30 decibels or less at 1000 Hz and 70 decibels or more at 2000 Hz, the VA uses the higher table result and then raises it one more numeral.

• It establishes service connection. Hearing usually gets worse with age. If it’s already service-connected, you can file for an increase later without proving the connection again.
• It supports your tinnitus claim. Hearing loss and tinnitus are rated separately, and they often share the same noise-exposure evidence.
• It can matter for VA health care, including hearing aids, for veterans enrolled in VA care.

Noise exposure is the most common link: weapons, artillery, aircraft and flight lines, engine rooms and heavy equipment. The VA concedes hazardous noise exposure for many military jobs.