On this Veterans Day and every day, Hearing Health Foundation (HHF) thanks our U.S. service members and veterans for their sacrifices. This group is disproportionately at risk for hearing damage, but earlier this year changes to how tinnitus is rated as a compensable disability were proposed.
Inspired by the veterans he meets with as part of his research into blast injury, Vijaya Prakash Krishnan Muthaiah, PT, Ph.D., a 2019 Emerging Research Grants scientist, joined the U.S. Coast Guard as a reservist in 2022.
Tinnitus and hearing loss are consistently among the top 10 service-connected disabilities among veterans who receive benefits. According to the 2024 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Annual Benefits Report, tinnitus ranked 1st and hearing loss 5th.
More than 1.5 million veterans receive disability compensation for hearing loss, and over 3.2 million receive it for tinnitus, according to the advocacy organization Veterans Help Group.
However, the VA recently announced it is eliminating tinnitus as a standalone disability rating. This means tinnitus will only be compensable if it’s tied to another service-connected condition. These changes could go into effect by the end of 2025, but the timing and details remain in flux, according to VA Claims Insider, a company that helps veterans file disability claims. They summarize what to know:
Veterans who were already rated for tinnitus will be grandfathered in and won’t lose existing benefits.
New tinnitus claims may require a linked condition (like hearing loss or traumatic brain injury) to qualify for compensation.
Other Health Risks
Many veterans who have typical hearing test results have trouble understanding speech. This can be a result of central auditory processing disorder (CAPD), which is often associated with blast exposure.
HHF’s Emerging Research Grants scientists are investigating CAPD, thanks to the generous support of Royal Arch Research Assistance (RARA). Vijaya Prakash Krishnan Muthaiah, PT, Ph.D., at the University at Buffalo, is a 2019 Emerging Research Grants scientist funded by RARA who studies blast effects on the brain and hearing. He was so inspired by the veterans he has met over the course of his research that he joined the U.S. Coast Guard as a reservist in 2022.
Research on the effect of blasts on hearing as well as the brain overall is expanding. Blast exposure can lead to hyperacusis (noise-induced pain) among veterans, according to 2019 research published in Science Reports. And a November 2025 story in The New York Times visually detailed how shooting ranges can result in brain injury.
The Mayo Clinic reports that chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) has been found in the brains of people who played U.S. football and other contact sports and may also occur in military members exposed to explosive blasts. Caused by repeated concussions or other head trauma, CTE is a neurodegenerative brain disease and linked to changes in cognition, behavior, mood, and movement.
According to a 2021 Military Medicine study, about half of the 900 veterans surveyed said their tinnitus was moderate to very severe, with nearly one in five calling it very severe. Veterans with worse tinnitus were much more likely to also have mental health symptoms.
In the study, those with very severe tinnitus were about 17 times more likely to screen positive for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 15 times more likely for depression, and 13 times more likely for anxiety, compared with veterans who said they experienced little to no tinnitus.
This Veterans Day, we honor our service members and veterans while highlighting the serious impact of tinnitus, hearing loss, and blast-related injuries. These conditions affect not only hearing but also mental health and daily life. It remains important to research noise and blast effects in order to support our military community.
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On this Veterans Day and every day, Hearing Health Foundation (HHF) thanks our U.S. service members and veterans for their sacrifices. This group is disproportionately at risk for hearing damage, but earlier this year changes to how tinnitus is rated as a compensable disability were proposed.