Compensation for Certain Cases of Bilateral Deafness

This document amends the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) adjudication regulations concerning how to rate claims of veterans with bilateral hearing impairment when hearing loss in one ear is service connected and hearing loss in the other ear is not. The amendment is necessary to implement a statutory provision of the Veterans Benefits Act of 2002, which will now factor in nonservice-connected hearing loss of one ear when hearing loss in the other ear is service connected and hearing loss manifests to a specified degree. This enables VA to pay compensation for such claims as if the combined hearing loss in both ears is service connected. These amendments are non-substantive because they are restatements of statutes and interpretive rules.