Hearing claims are won and lost on the same two questions as every other claim - is it service connected, and how bad is it - but the evidence that answers them looks different here. This guide lists what belongs in the file, in the order most veterans need it.
The current audiogram
Everything starts with a current audiological evaluation that includes both pure tone thresholds and a word recognition score, each ear. An audiogram missing the word recognition component leaves the VA unable to apply the full rating formula, and the missing half usually works against the claimant.
If your most recent test is years old, get a new one before filing. If the VA exam produces the only audiogram, the numbers recorded at that single appointment set your percentage - a private baseline audiogram in the file beforehand is cheap insurance.
The service history
The duty assignment drives the noise exposure question. DD-214, personnel records showing Military Occupational Specialty and duty stations, and unit histories establish what you actually did. If your role appears on the VA's hazardous noise listing, exposure is conceded; if it does not, the records matter more, not less.
Sick call records for ear complaints, blast events, or range work strengthen the history. Their absence, as our noise exposure guide explains, is common and not fatal.
Statements that fill the gaps
Buddy statements from people who served alongside you can document the noise environment, the single events, and the early symptoms nobody reported at the time. Your own statement can document the progression: when the family started repeating itself, when the phone became hard, when restaurants became impossible. These do not replace the audiogram - they explain it.
The VA's own evidence requirements describe how private and lay evidence fit together.
The medical opinion
When the VA concedes the hearing loss but denies service connection, the missing piece is a reasoned medical opinion connecting the current loss to service noise exposure with the age and civilian-noise alternatives addressed. Our nexus letter guide explains what a probative opinion contains, and our guide on why VA claims get denied helps you identify which element the VA actually found missing in a prior decision.
Before you file
A medical records review looks at what you actually have and identifies which elements the file supports and which are missing - before the VA makes the same finding the hard way. Free accredited help with filing is available to every veteran through a Veterans Service Officer.