I'm a veteran, age 66, with tinnitus and a hearing loss that started when I was in the Army. I recently got hearing aids from the VA after learning about the program form my counselor at the Disabled American Veterans.
It turns out that any honorably discharged veteran is eligible for free hearing aids from the VA. Contact your VA hospital or clinic for an appointment. Be sure to have your DD 214 when you apply.
now if the VA can only replace our tv sets, he keeps blowing out the sound from turning it up to high! no kidding, hes gone through 3 tvs already. i keep offering to hook up a speaker so he can the volume up on that rather than the tv volume, but nope..
his batterys keep going out, or so he says. i think he just doesnt want to hear me. but one thing that bugs me.. he always uses the oven timer for EVERYTHING but he cant hear it going off ! why set the thing if you cant hear it? who knows
I am a 75 year old veteran. I flew almost 2,000 hours as a radio operator on a Navy P2V-7 flight crew. At that time we didn't wear ear protection. I haven't worked in a noisy environment since getting out of the Navy nor am I a hunter so I haven't been exposed to gun fire. The loud jet engine noise and the dits and dahs and squeals through my radio operator headphones is the loudest environment I've ever worked in.
I began having hearing problems 15 or 20 years ago. About 10 years ago I applied to the VA for hearing aids. They refused me.
They told me that because my records from the Navy did not show that I had complained about a hearing problem while I was in the Navy, I didn't qualify.
So apparently if there isn't something in your military health records about your hearing, you can't get hearing aids from the VA.
Spadooly, You need to file a claim with the VA for your hearing loss and Tinitis issues. I'm a former P-3 aircrewman and I too have significant hearing loss. I'm also a hunter and a trap shooter. Even though we were provided with hearing protection muffs during my service, I still was given a 10% service connected disability for my hearing issues.
My husband is waiting for his. They are ordered. You also get free batteries and other connections for your TV and telephone to work with the Hearing aids.
Go for it. All veterans deserve it. Hearing aids are very expensive.
We needed a letter from an ENT stating that it was "as likely as not" that his hearing loss was service related, in heavy bombers. That letter was forwarded to the local County Vets assistance office, which prepared additional paperwork and forwarded it to the American Legion office for processing.
Another hearing exam was subsequently performed by a doctor contracted directly by the VA. His findings substantiated the private sector ENT doctor, and the VA granted the claim of service connected disability.
We had 3 appointments at a VA outpatient facility to get the hearing aids. The first was with one of the team PCPs, who essentially performed the intake process and got things started. The second was with an ENT technician, who performed another hearing test to evaluate specific hearing deficits and ranges of deficits, and the third was to get the hearing aids fitted and adjusted properly to Dad's hearing needs.
As to filing a claim for service connected disability for hearing loss, go for it!
I think though that there is a time limit before he could get another pair; however, we might be willing to pay for them if they're reasonable. The VA has the best hearing department we've experienced, far better than any of the commercial outfits.