Hearing loss is rated differently than most other bilateral conditions because it is rated by the hearing ability of both ears together rather than the right or left sides individually. The VA combines the hearing ability of both ears to determine a single rating for hearing loss. Most veterans with hearing loss, even with hearing aids, find themselves rarely rated over 10%. A rating of even 30% or higher is usually significant of severely profound hearing loss. For a 100% rating, a veteran must be completely deaf in both ears.

The VA uses two tests to determine the overall disability level for hearing and both ears need to be tested for the correct rating level. If only one ear is tested, the VA will assume the ear not tested has normal hearing. Official testing for rating purposes can only be done by an audiologist and must be conducted without hearing aids if they are prescribed.

The first test is the puretone audiometry test. This one tests a person’s ability to detect different tones at varying frequencies. This tests the ability to hear soft and low sounds and low or high frequencies. For example, a bass guitar may make a soft, low frequency sound where a plane engine makes a loud, low frequency sound. On the audiogram, the numbers should be between -10 and 120. There are four puretone thresholds tested for VA purposes for each ear. The VA requires test levels for the ranges of 1000, 2000, 3000, and 4000 Hz for each ear. The lower the score means the better someone is able to hear the sound.
The second test is speech discrimination. This test determines a person’s ability to understand words. The person tested listens to words and is then asked to repeat them back to the audiologist. This shows what percentage of words the person can understand. There should be a number on the audiogram between 0% and 100% for each ear. The higher the percentage means the better the speech discrimination. This test may not be used in situations where there is already an impairment not related to hearing loss or a language difficulty.

For the purpose of this calculator, enter your left and right ear puretone thresholds in the fields provided to the left then the speech discrimination scores on the right or check the box if your audiologist indicated a speech discrimination test was not appropriate for your situation. Once you click on the Calculator Hearing Disability Rating button below, you will get an approximate rating value based on the VA formula for calculating hearing conditions.