Hearing Loss and Tinnitus: The Most Under-Claimed Injuries in the ADF

Ask a veteran about their hearing and you will usually get the same answer: it's fine, everyone's is like that. Ask their partner and you get a different one.

Noise-induced hearing loss and tinnitus are among the most common service-related conditions in Australia, and among the least claimed — mostly because they came on slowly enough that nobody noticed a day when things changed.

Why the ADF is a noise environment like no other

Weapons, aircraft, armoured vehicles, ships' machinery spaces, power tools, generators, blast. Hearing protection helps, but it is imperfect, inconsistently worn, and useless against impulse noise you did not expect. Decades of exposure produce a characteristic pattern on an audiogram that an audiologist can recognise immediately.

What DVA needs

Two things, in this order.

A diagnosis. That means audiometry — a formal hearing test producing an audiogram, not a comment in a file that your hearing seemed reduced. Tinnitus is diagnosed clinically from your description, but it still needs to be recorded as a diagnosis rather than mentioned in passing.

Noise exposure that meets the Statement of Principles. The SoP for sensorineural hearing loss specifies exposure levels and durations, and the SoP for tinnitus has its own factors. Your service record, trade, postings and deployments are the evidence for that exposure. You can read both in our SoP Library.

Claim them together

Hearing loss and tinnitus are separate conditions with separate SoPs, and both are claimable. Tinnitus also arises as a sequela of accepted hearing loss, which is a second pathway to acceptance. Veterans routinely claim one and not the other, which leaves entitlement on the table for no reason.

How it is rated

Once liability is accepted, hearing impairment is rated under GARP using the audiometric results, and tinnitus carries its own impairment consideration along with the lifestyle effects it produces — disturbed sleep, difficulty concentrating, and the strain of following conversation in a noisy room. Those lifestyle effects need to be documented properly, because they contribute to the rating.

Accepted hearing conditions also open access to DVA-funded hearing services, which for many veterans is worth more day to day than the payment itself.

Once tinnitus is accepted and you lodge a permanent impairment claim, DVA may refer you to Hearing Australia for assessment and treatment — see what that referral means for your claim.

Frequently asked questions

My hearing test was never done in service. Can I still claim?

Yes. The audiogram establishing the diagnosis can be done now; the service record establishes the exposure. A gap in the record is not a bar.

I have tinnitus but my hearing seems fine.

Tinnitus is claimable in its own right, with its own Statement of Principles. Normal audiometry does not prevent acceptance.

Does age-related hearing loss stop the claim?

No. Age is expected to contribute, and the assessment accounts for it. What matters is whether service noise exposure met the SoP factors.

How do I start?

With a review of your record to identify the exposure and every other condition documented in it — see DVA claims, or read example assessments in our Claims Library.

Talk to us

If you want to know where you stand before spending anything, call 0429 146 039 or email reception@vhc.org.au for a no-obligation consult with the Veterans Health Centre in Ipswich, Queensland.

This article is general information for Australian veterans and is not legal or financial advice. Your entitlements depend on your service, your conditions and the evidence available.