I am in a compensation dilema with the VA. My hearing was diagnosed as mild in 1989 due to my exposure during missile duties on active duty. The VA had never noted this originally during my first examination after being medically retired for another disease I had and have during military service. However the VA says that although my hearing has gotten worse, it was not at the time bad enough to be compensated for, so they deny my hearing loss as compensatible now since it was not to their standards when I was examined, although it is now. They say my hearing has worsened, but since I was not examined for many years after my service and it is now worse. The VA states, in their summary statement of case that hearing just doesn t get worse on its own, even if diagnosed with hearing loss. While the VA and private audiologists have said I do have hearing loss, it is not determinable that my hearing loss is from my military service, although as mentioned it was diagnosed while on active duty and two seperate medical evaluation boards. So my questions are these: does hearing get worse on its own, does hearing loss create tennitus and is hearing loss gradual enough to worsen over time without the subject really noticing? There is also an issue with Tinnitus but its onset was after leaving the service so nothing of note in records indicates its individual onset as a result of service connection. I don t mind doing the research but need to be pointed in the right direction as I have a very long awaited interview with a traveling VA DRO person in a month to give my reasons why my documented, service connected hearing loss should be considered compensable by the VA. Needless to say, any help would be greatly appreciated, Thank you