What’s your situation?
- VA denied my claim: What to check after a denial
- I'm claiming this condition for the first time: How to file a VA claim for tinnitus
- My current rating no longer fits: Tinnitus rating increase: what can actually change
- I have a claim exam coming up: C&P exam preparation
Tinnitus VA rating: a single 10%
| Rating | Criteria — Diagnostic Code 6260, Tinnitus | In plain language | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | Tinnitus, recurrent | Recurrent tinnitus — ringing or another sound that comes back — in one ear, both ears, or in the head. One 10% evaluation is the whole scale. | Note (2) allows a single evaluation however the sound is perceived; there is no higher tinnitus percentage under this code. |
Notes from the regulation:
- Note (1): A separate evaluation for tinnitus may be combined with an evaluation under diagnostic codes 6100, 6200, 6204, or other diagnostic code, except when tinnitus is used in support of an evaluation under any of those diagnostic codes.
- Note (2): Assign only a single evaluation for recurrent tinnitus, whether the sound is perceived in one ear, both ears, or in the head.
- Note (3): Objective tinnitus (in which the sound is audible to other people and has some identifiable cause that may be resolved by surgery or other treatment) is not evaluated under DC 6260, but rather as part of the underlying condition from which it results.
One criterion, three notes
The chart on this page is the complete schedule for tinnitus: if the tinnitus is recurrent — it comes back — the evaluation is 10%. There is no 0% line and no higher line. Most disputes about tinnitus ratings are really disputes about the notes: whether a separate evaluation should have been assigned alongside a hearing-loss evaluation, or whether the tinnitus should have been rated as part of another condition.
In this series: Tinnitus VA rating
- How to file a VA claim for tinnitus
What to file for tinnitus under DC 6260: the claim itself, the noise-exposure and continuity evidence that carries service connection, and the audiology exam.
- Tinnitus rating increase: what can actually change
There is no tinnitus evaluation above 10% under DC 6260. What can change: a missing separate evaluation, a Meniere's evaluation, and the ratings of the conditions around the tinnitus.
- Tinnitus after a TBI: rating it as its own residual
DC 8045 directs that hearing loss and tinnitus after a traumatic brain injury be evaluated under their own diagnostic codes — what that means for a tinnitus claim alongside TBI residuals.
Subjective and objective tinnitus
Note (3) separates two kinds of tinnitus. Subjective tinnitus — the common kind, heard only by the veteran — is evaluated under DC 6260. Objective tinnitus, in which the sound is audible to other people and has some identifiable cause that may be resolved by surgery or other treatment, is not evaluated under DC 6260 at all; it is evaluated as part of the underlying condition it results from. If your records describe a pulsatile or audible sound with a physical cause, the rating may belong under that condition's code instead.
Combining with hearing loss
Note (1) allows a separate evaluation for tinnitus to be combined with an evaluation under DC 6100 (hearing impairment), 6200, 6204, or another diagnostic code — except when tinnitus is used in support of an evaluation under one of those codes. In practice: tinnitus and hearing loss are usually rated side by side, each under its own code, and combined under VA's combined-ratings table. A decision that refuses a separate tinnitus evaluation should say which exception it is relying on.
DC 6260 notes worksheet
Most tinnitus rating disputes are really disputes about the notes. Work through these checks against your decision letter to see whether each note was applied the way it is written.