The Tinnitus VA Claim: One Rating, Clear Rules, and the Evidence That Wins It

Tinnitus is the single most-claimed VA disability in America — and the simplest to understand once you know its one number: the schedular rating is 10%, period, whether one ear or both rings.

Why it’s always 10%

Diagnostic Code 6260 assigns recurrent tinnitus a single 10% rating — there’s no higher schedular step for louder or constant ringing. (A 2026 rating-schedule proposal has floated changes for years; claims today are decided under the 10% standard.) That makes the tinnitus fight about service connection, not severity.

What wins service connection

Tinnitus is subjective — no test proves ringing — so credibility and plausibility carry the claim:

• Noise exposure consistent with your MOS. Artillery, aviation, armor, engine rooms, flight decks: the VA’s own duty-MOS noise tables acknowledge probable exposure by job. Combat service simplifies further.
• Continuity. A statement describing when the ringing began and that it has recurred since — specific, first-person, dated. Buddy statements from those who served alongside you fill gaps in records.
• A current diagnosis note from any exam mentioning tinnitus.

In-service audiograms help but aren’t required — tinnitus can be granted with normal hearing tests, and denials that demand hearing loss misread the law.

The quiet value: secondaries

The 10% understates the claim’s worth because tinnitus anchors secondary claims: sleep disturbance, and most significantly mental health conditions aggravated by constant ringing — depression and anxiety secondary to tinnitus are established, ratable paths (0–100% under the mental health schedule). Hearing loss is claimed alongside, not through, tinnitus.

Claim mechanics

File on VA.gov or through an accredited VSO (free — never pay a percentage for an initial claim); expect a C&P exam that asks when it started, how often, and what it affects — answer plainly and specifically. Denied? Supplemental claims and higher-level review exist precisely for tinnitus denials, which have strong reversal rates with better statements. It’s 10%, it’s winnable, and it’s the front door to the rest of the file.