Data story · October 14, 2026 · Data as of October 14, 2026
Tinnitus and hearing loss: different BVA outcomes within the same occupations
The recorded grant share is higher for tinnitus in every occupation included in this comparison. Explore the counts, compare occupations, and examine the limits of the finding.
Within the occupation-history dataset, tinnitus has a higher recorded grant share than hearing loss in 13 of the 13 eligible occupation groups. Each group has at least 200 recorded outcomes for each condition.
This is a comparison of historical records. It does not measure an individual veteran’s chance of success, prove a relationship between work and illness, or explain why the outcomes differ.
328 granted / 514 records · 96 denied · 90 remanded
283 granted / 799 records · 248 denied · 268 remanded
Both bars use a 0–100% scale. At least 200 records per condition; remands stay in the denominator. These are different groups of records, not matched veterans or predictions. The comparison does not establish what caused the gap.
The counts behind the comparison
Each cell shows granted records / all records (grant share). All records includes remands. These are separate condition groups, not the same veterans matched across conditions. Do not add the rows: occupations and records can overlap.
| Occupation | Tinnitus | Hearing loss |
|---|---|---|
| Administrative Specialist | 148 / 282 (52.5%) | 76 / 336 (22.6%) |
| Aircraft Mechanic (Fixed-Wing General) | 328 / 514 (63.8%) | 283 / 799 (35.4%) |
| Armor / Tank Crewman | 170 / 262 (64.9%) | 131 / 379 (34.6%) |
| Cannon Crew / Field Artillery | 395 / 628 (62.9%) | 295 / 904 (32.6%) |
| Combat Engineer / Sapper | 242 / 388 (62.4%) | 162 / 556 (29.1%) |
| Cook / Culinary Specialist | 156 / 327 (47.7%) | 81 / 384 (21.1%) |
| Infantry (Rifleman) | 848 / 1,344 (63.1%) | 643 / 2,125 (30.3%) |
| Medic / Hospital Corpsman / Medical Specialist | 197 / 357 (55.2%) | 118 / 410 (28.8%) |
| Military Police / Security Forces | 260 / 426 (61.0%) | 155 / 530 (29.2%) |
| Motor Transport Operator | 177 / 325 (54.5%) | 103 / 396 (26.0%) |
| Radio Operator / Communications | 269 / 464 (58.0%) | 191 / 651 (29.3%) |
| Supply Specialist | 237 / 442 (53.6%) | 143 / 504 (28.4%) |
| Vehicle / Wheel Mechanic | 152 / 224 (67.9%) | 98 / 336 (29.2%) |
Use the pattern to ask better evidence questions
The comparison identifies a question worth investigating; the aggregate table does not answer it. Start with the actual benefit sought, the medical findings, the history of symptoms, and the reasoning in the medical opinions.
For example, decision granted both hearing loss and tinnitus after discussing credible reports of symptoms and the adequacy of an unfavorable opinion. In decision , the Board remanded hearing loss and identified a favorable opinion that lacked a supporting rationale.
These are illustrative aircraft-mechanic decisions from the broader BVA corpus. Membership in this aggregate extract has not been established; they do not explain or quantify the gap above. Read the verified excerpts alongside the aircraft-mechanic condition data.
What the dataset can’t establish
The extract groups records by occupation and diagnostic code. It does not separate service connection from increased ratings or other benefits, match veterans, or control for year, evidence, or other differences. Its totals differ from a simple occupation search of the full Explorer corpus. Neither the job nor the presence of an exposure establishes that the Board accepted it as the reason for a grant.
The extraction date is not the date of the newest decision; decision-date coverage was not supplied with this dataset. The aircraft-mechanic page and this story use the same fixed extract. Download the comparison data, methods, and source queries.
Explore the data
About the data
BVA occupation-history extract from decoder_ring.theories and decoder_ring.sources. Counts are recorded outcomes for source–diagnostic-code groups, not unique veterans. Denominators include granted, denied and remanded records. Groups may overlap. The extract does not distinguish service connection from increased ratings or other benefits; occupation mentions do not establish a causal relationship or an accepted legal theory. This is a separate analytical dataset, not all matching records in the full Explorer corpus. Queried October 14, 2026. Every figure in this story is computed from the query results, and the AI-extracted data can contain errors. The figures are fixed as of that date. Related research pages describe their own data dates and methods.
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