Tinnitus

for me i went to the hearing place first talked with them about the masking device and got the model number they recommended and took that to my family doc got a prescription took that down to my local office and talked with my case manager and submitted it there that day and it took me very little time and it was all approved. hope some of this helps.

what you would need to do is go get a prescription for a masking device with the model number on it once you get your answer back and submit it. For someone putting in a fresh claim they can do this all on there first application but it's never to late to put it in. This should not be a hard process for VAC if you are approved for tinnitus seeing masking device is the treatment for it. One of the people i helped he was at 2% and VAC said if you get a masking device you need to be at 5% so they bumped him up from 2% to 5% then gave 5% for masking device. Tinnitus is the condition and the masking device is to help improve the quality of life by using for daytime hearing aids for white noise and a night time masking device with a pillow speaker to play different sounds like thunder and rain to help with the ringing of the ears. The reason you should get a prescription with the model number is cause VAC will ask for it and this will help cut down the process and get a quicker approval.

bosn181 wrote:no you can put it in right away and it should be fast track seeing you already got covered if you get it.  When i did it they took less than 3 months and money was in the bank and i  went up to 11% with masking device. now i not sure what kind of wait times they have going on at the moment so might take a little longer but i know 4 other vets that i helped and they all had around the same wait period as me.

l not sure how all this works ,let's say l get a VAC letter that says we agree you have tinnitus here is your 5%,what do I do next to prove l need the device? Thx

no you can put it in right away and it should be fast track seeing you already got covered if you get it. When i did it they took less than 3 months and money was in the bank and i  went up to 11% with masking device. now i not sure what kind of wait times they have going on at the moment so might take a little longer but i know 4 other vets that i helped and they all had around the same wait period as me.

bosn181 wrote:yes you can have tinnitus coverage and not hearing loss the main thing when applying for tinnitus is they normally give around the 5% mark and when you are applying for it make sure you ask for a masking device as well that can bring you up another 5%. i am sure others hear can give more details. masking device can be hearing aids for daytime and a machine that has a speaker that you put under your pillow to make different white noise at night.

I don't think I checked the part about listening device, what if the decision comes back favorable at 5%, is it too late to apply/ask for a reassessment to include the device?

yes you can have tinnitus coverage and not hearing loss the main thing when applying for tinnitus is they normally give around the 5% mark and when you are applying for it make sure you ask for a masking device as well that can bring you up another 5%. i am sure others hear can give more details. masking device can be hearing aids for daytime and a machine that has a speaker that you put under your pillow to make different white noise at night.

daverobitaille@rogers.com wrote:Hi,
I just had an audio gram done and my hearing is ok. However, I was diagnosed with Level 4 Tinitus in both hears 24 hrs a day. Will my claim still be accepted since my hearing is still ok?
Thanks!

my understanding is there are 2 separate claims available 1 for hearing 1 for tinnitus, my hearing is not bad enough but l ve had a tinnitus claim sitting at stage 3 for 4 months,...so you may get something-if you can wait half a year or more,from what I'm reading most are assessed at 10% or about 36000

Hi,
I just had an audio gram done and my hearing is ok. However, I was diagnosed with Level 4 Tinitus in both hears 24 hrs a day. Will my claim still be accepted since my hearing is still ok?
Thanks!

I just used 2017 as an example. And yes, if you get approved for a new claim this year, it will be paid out as a lump sum. And also a yes, to your third question. A 10 % assessment, is a 10% assessment, is a 10% assessment, and is paid out at 10% (currently around $36500), regardless of the actual disability.

bigrex wrote:Under the Pension Act, you are always paid at the rate you are assessed at. So it doesn't matter how long you have been getting the pension, what your rank was, or if your overall assessment was due to a single severe disability, or several minor ones. If you were assessed at 30%, your PA pension would always be paid at 30%.  Under the NVC, if you received a 20% award several years ago, you would have gotten the 20% amount for that year, but if that same condition worsened in 2017, and was bumped up to an over all 30%, the second award wasn't paid out at the 30% amount for 2017, minus the previous LSA. They only paid you the 10% amount, which resulted in shortchanging the Veteran several thousand dollars.

Are you just throwing the year 2017 in there for an example? or did some VAC/Gov policy change that year.

Under the Pension Act, you are always paid at the rate you are assessed at. So it doesn't matter how long you have been getting the pension, what your rank was, or if your overall assessment was due to a single severe disability, or several minor ones. If you were assessed at 30%, your PA pension would always be paid at 30%. Under the NVC, if you received a 20% award several years ago, you would have gotten the 20% amount for that year, but if that same condition worsened in 2017, and was bumped up to an over all 30%, the second award wasn't paid out at the 30% amount for 2017, minus the previous LSA. They only paid you the 10% amount, which resulted in shortchanging the Veteran several thousand dollars.

Art8 wrote:After reviewing everything, I think I may know what was done. My letter said I was previously 34% disability, ( I was also diagnosed with 30% PTSD, and 4% Timothy’s) but with the 7% increase on tinnitus it bumped me up to 41% which gave me a 5% increase.
I’m still confused as to why if I’m a total of 41% disability, and should be payout of 40%, that means 40% of $360,000 is 144,000. But after I receive this 5% I will only have a total of 136,000 ish.

Am I wrong in thinking this?

I`ve only ever had 1 claim through VAC approved, but is that how the system works,

bigrex wrote:Hearing loss and tinnitus are separate claims, even if tinnitus is normally considered a consequential claim of hearing loss. So you can gets 11% for tinnitus, and an additional LSA for hearing loss. Honestly I was surprised that you said that you said that you had an award for tinnitus, without an approved hearing loss claim, because VAC denied my tinnitus claims, because they said that you can't have tinnitus, without hearing loss, and even though I do have hearing loss, it wasn't noticed during my release medical.

That`s where I`m at right now, VAC says my hearing loss is not bad enough to warrant a disability, so am I to assume my Tinnitus claim will be rejected on those grounds?

Yes sounds straight forward enough. I’d call and make sure they have all the info tho just to confirm, if u haven’t heard back since February. Sometimes a phone call gets the ball rolling. It did for me on my hearing loss app.

Thanks Gunner and Bigrex.... Assessed at 4% initial however likely should've gotten masker from start... Now I have masker on my hearing aid and a night time one as well. Straight forward enough? Prescriptions submitted, doctors medical form sent in as well.