Tinnitus VA Rating: One Number, Real Value

Tinnitus is sound only you can hear: ringing, humming, clicking or a high whine that comes and goes or never stops. The VA lists it under diagnostic code 6260 in the hearing section of the rating schedule, and it has exactly one rating: 10% for recurrent tinnitus.

A few details trip veterans up:

• Both ears still means one 10%. The VA assigns a single evaluation whether the noise is in one ear, both ears or "in your head." You can't get 10% per ear.
• "Recurrent" doesn't mean constant. Tinnitus that shows up regularly, even if it isn't there every minute, can qualify.
• Tinnitus and hearing loss are separate claims. Many veterans have both, and each gets its own evaluation. Hearing loss is measured with an audiology test; tinnitus mostly rests on what you report.

Because nobody else can hear your tinnitus, the VA leans on three things: a current diagnosis, evidence you were exposed to loud noise in service, and a believable account of when the ringing began.

Noise exposure

The VA keeps a list, endorsed by every branch, that rates each military job's probability of hazardous noise. If your job is on it at any level (high, moderate or low), the VA concedes the exposure for purposes of an in-service event, and combat service does the same. If your job isn't on the list, describe what you were around: weapons qualification, artillery, generators, flight lines, ship engine spaces, convoy duty. Award citations, deployment records and unit histories help.

Your own statement matters here

Tinnitus is one of the few conditions where your lay statement can carry real weight, because you are competent to say you hear ringing. Write down when you first noticed it, what you were doing in service at the time, and how it has continued since. A spouse or someone you served with can back up the timeline with a buddy statement.

The audiology exam

The VA usually schedules an audiology C&P exam. Tell the examiner plainly how often you hear it and when it started. Veterans who downplay it ("it's not that bad") sometimes get an opinion that it isn't recurrent.

VA ratings don't add up. Each new rating applies to the part of you the VA still considers "healthy," and the result is rounded to the nearest 10. That rounding is why a 10% can matter a lot or not at all:

• Rated 50% today: adding tinnitus gives a combined value of 55, which rounds up to 60%. At 2026 rates that's $302.12 more a month for a veteran with no dependents.
• Rated 70% today: adding 10% gives 73, which rounds back down to 70%. No change on its own, but it still counts toward your next rating.

Try your own numbers in the VA disability calculator, which combines ratings the same way the VA does.

Constant noise wears on people. When a doctor connects it, the VA can rate conditions caused or made worse by service-connected tinnitus on their own, and those ratings aren't capped at 10%. The ones veterans claim most often:

• Anxiety or depression, rated under the mental health formula (see the depression and anxiety guide)
• Sleep problems tied to the noise, documented in treatment records
• Headaches, where a medical opinion links the two (see the migraine guide)

These claims rise or fall on a medical opinion that explains how the tinnitus causes or worsens the condition. A one-line "it's related" note usually isn't enough.