Another Hearing Test . . .

I had yet another hearing test Wednesday for the VA.  This was a separate and independent test conducted at the request of the VA for evaluation of a service connected disability.

I got there early, never know what traffic is going to be like on I-30 going through the middle of Fort Worth.  The hearing place was on the eastern edge of Fort Worth.  The test is conducted by a contractor for the VA.  There was no traffic delays and I arrived early and sat and waited my turn.

It is ironic but the people that do the service connected evaluations do not trust my ENT doctor nor their own VA Audiologist doctor at their own clinic in Fort Worth.  That is just the way the system works.  The compensation people are independent of the normal medical care folks of the VA.  So I guess you can say they do not even trust their own people.  But it rules out any favoritism or any shenanigans by evaluators.  The raters get verified and good data to base their evaluations upon.

Any way the hearing examiner did her job and said, "Congratulations, you have failed the hearing test a third time."  She was just making light of the situation as we both knew the earlier results would only be confirmed.  She was very nice about it all.

Now all the information will go back to Waco, TX where the Regional Office (RO) resides.  There the evaluator will write up the findings and give me a rating.  Of course, they may not give me a rating for the disability.  I suspect they will give me a 10% rating for Tinnitus.  There is no easy way to test for Tinnitus as the more common version is generated by the brain.  I am sure the RO will do their evaluation, it will get scrubbed down, checked and finally issued.  Since Tinnitus is nerve damage of some sort, it is probably in my case be related to Diabetes Type II.  So it will be a secondary to Diabetes.

Anyway that is the way I filed the claim as a secondary condition due to Diabetes.  No question that I have Diabetes and it is verified Service Connected disability (actually it is a combat related disability).  Means little to the general public, just something to us with VA disabilities.

Some I opine that the Tinnitus is the result of damage to the Cochlear Nerves that convert sound into whatever the brain needs to "hear."  Diabetes attacks all nerves one way or the other.  More recently, some brain experts say it has nothing to do with the ear but an area inside the brain.  It really does not matter as it can not be cured, it can only be kind of drummed out of the way.  Some hearing aids generate white noise that drowns out the Tinnitus.

I hear Tinnitus all the time except when I am in a very high noise condition like a sports bar or a noisy restaurant.  And then, of course, all hearing is impaired to the extent of how loud the surrounding sound is.

Anyway the test is completed and I installed my hearing aids and went home.

Now I have to wait.