Physician Assistant and prior C&P examiner Leah Bucholz discusses about Hearing Loss and Veterans' Disability.
Leah discusses the relationship between military service and hearing loss as it pertains to VA disability claims. She explains her expertise as a certified occupational hearing conservationist, which involves interpreting hearing loss data and operating audio booths. Leah highlights the VA's duty noise exposure level chart, which categorizes various military occupations (MOS) by their probable noise exposure levels (high, moderate, low), aiding veterans in assessing their risk for hearing loss. She emphasizes that even MOS with lower noise exposure can still experience significant hearing loss, drawing on her own experience as a paratrooper. The video also covers research articles on noise-induced hearing loss in the military, noting that both temporary and permanent threshold shifts can cause long-term hearing damage.