Referred to Hearing Australia for Your Tinnitus? Here's What That Means for Your Claim

If you have claimed tinnitus and DVA has written to you about an assessment with Hearing Australia, you have not been singled out and nothing has gone wrong with your claim. You have landed in a pathway DVA built on purpose, and it is worth understanding both what it does for your health and how it interacts with the claim you have lodged.

What the pathway actually is

DVA has partnered with Hearing Australia — the largest provider of Australian Government-funded hearing services — under an initiative called Improved Access to Treatment for Tinnitus. It began as a pilot and sits inside a broader $739.2 million investment over four years in early prevention and rehabilitative treatment.

The pilot applies to veterans and serving members under the age of 60 with accepted service-related tinnitus who lodge a permanent impairment claim under the MRCA. It operates in a specific window: after DVA accepts initial liability, and before permanent impairment is determined.

In that window, DVA refers you to Hearing Australia for a fully funded assessment and any clinically necessary treatment. Relevant information about you is shared with Hearing Australia at the point of referral. Afterwards, Hearing Australia provides a report back to DVA — and to Defence, if you are still serving — setting out your level of impairment and recommendations for future treatment.

If you are eligible, DVA writes to you directly. You do not apply for it.

Why DVA is doing this

There are two reasons, and they are both real. It is worth being clear-eyed about each.

The clinical reason. Tinnitus responds to treatment better than most veterans assume. The point of treatment is not to remove the sound — it is to change how much the sound intrudes on your life. DVA reports that in early results from the pilot, more than 80% of participants saw a reduction in their Tinnitus Functional Index score, the standard measure of how much tinnitus interferes with daily functioning. That is a substantial result for a condition many veterans have simply resigned themselves to.

The legislative reason. When DVA considers a permanent impairment claim, section 73 of the MRCA requires it to consider whether the impairment is likely to continue indefinitely. In doing that, the Department must consider the duration of the impairment, the likelihood of improvement, and whether all reasonable rehabilitative treatment has been undertaken.

That third limb is the one to notice. A permanent impairment assessment for a condition that has never been treated is difficult to complete, because nobody can yet say whether the impairment is permanent. The Hearing Australia pathway resolves that: it delivers treatment and produces the clinical evidence DVA needs to make the permanence finding.

The part veterans ask about

The obvious question, and veterans do ask it: if treatment reduces my tinnitus, does it reduce my payment?

The honest answer is that it can. Impairment is rated on where you end up after reasonable treatment, not on how bad things were before it. If CBT and a hearing aid take your tinnitus from intrusive to background, the rating reflects the improved state.

But the conclusion some veterans draw from that — decline the treatment, protect the number — is a bad trade for two reasons.

The first is legal. Section 73 requires DVA to consider whether all reasonable rehabilitative treatment has been undertaken. Refusing reasonable treatment does not lock in a higher rating; it more often means the impairment cannot yet be found permanent, and the assessment waits.

The second is that it is the wrong thing to optimise. Tinnitus that has been successfully treated is tinnitus you are no longer listening to at three in the morning. The difference between a functional impairment rating and a slightly higher one is not worth years of the sound winning.

Why a psychologist, for a hearing condition

Veterans are often surprised to be referred for cognitive behavioural therapy over what they think of as an ear problem. It is not a suggestion that the tinnitus is imaginary.

Tinnitus is generated in the auditory system, but how much it bothers you is governed by attention, arousal and threat response — which is why it is worse when you are stressed, worse at night, and worse when you are focused on it. CBT works on precisely that mechanism. DVA's own guidance puts it plainly: people whose tinnitus significantly affects their life may be referred to a psychologist for CBT, which can help you feel less bothered by it, teach relaxation skills, and treat the associated problems — stress, low mood and disrupted sleep.

That last point matters for your claim as well. Sleep disturbance, anxiety and depressive symptoms that arise alongside tinnitus are not automatically part of the tinnitus rating. Where they meet the criteria for a diagnosis in their own right, they may be separately claimable conditions — and the psychology records generated through this pathway are exactly the documentation that establishes them.

The rest of the toolkit

CBT is one option among several, and an audiologist will work out which apply to you:

• Hearing aids. Most people with long-term tinnitus also have hearing loss, and improving hearing makes tinnitus less noticeable. This is the most common intervention and often the most effective.
• Masking and sound therapy. Using other sound — background noise, music, a fan, or a purpose-built device — to make the tinnitus less prominent.
• Tinnitus devices, where hearing aids are not suitable.
• Tinnitus retraining therapy and, for a small number of people, neuromodulation devices.

Symptoms that need a doctor, not a pathway

DVA's Deputy Chief Health Officer has flagged three presentations that warrant prompt medical review rather than routine tinnitus management, because they are more likely to have a serious cause:

1. Tinnitus in one ear only.
2. Tinnitus that beats in time with your heart.
3. Tinnitus with sudden hearing loss, or with balance problems.

If any of those describe you, see your GP promptly. Rapid treatment can matter.

If you are not in the pilot

The pilot is narrow — under 60, accepted tinnitus, an undetermined MRCA permanent impairment claim. It does not affect anyone else's access to treatment.

If your tinnitus is accepted, treatment is available through your Veteran Card in the ordinary way. If you are still serving, tinnitus treatment is available through Defence health arrangements. As with any condition, your GP is the place to start — they will look for triggers, check whether medications or other health problems are making it worse, and refer you to an ENT specialist or an audiologist if further treatment is needed.

And if your tinnitus is not yet accepted, that is the first thing to fix. Tinnitus has its own Statement of Principles and is claimable in its own right, separately from hearing loss — see our guide to hearing loss and tinnitus claims, or look up the factors directly in the SoP Library.

What to do with the letter

1. Go. The assessment is fully funded, it does not affect your other entitlements, and it produces the clinical evidence your permanent impairment claim needs.
2. Take the treatment seriously. Section 73 turns partly on whether reasonable rehabilitative treatment has been undertaken. Engaging with it moves your claim forward rather than holding it up.
3. Have the impact documented before and after. The Tinnitus Functional Index is scored at assessment. Make sure the record captures how the tinnitus actually affects your sleep, concentration, work and mood — not just the pitch and volume of the sound.
4. Watch for the conditions travelling with it. Insomnia, anxiety and depressive symptoms are frequently part of the tinnitus picture and may be separately claimable where they are separately diagnosed.
5. Make sure everything else is claimed too. Tinnitus is rarely the only accepted condition a veteran should have, and impairment points combine across conditions — see the impairment estimator.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to attend the Hearing Australia assessment?

DVA refers eligible veterans and writes to them directly. Declining reasonable rehabilitative treatment is not usually to your advantage, because whether such treatment has been undertaken is one of the matters DVA must consider under section 73 of the MRCA when deciding whether impairment is permanent.

Will treatment reduce my permanent impairment payment?

Impairment is rated on your condition after reasonable treatment, so a meaningful improvement can affect the rating. It can also be what allows the impairment to be found permanent and the claim to be finalised at all.

Why am I being sent to a psychologist for a hearing problem?

Because how much tinnitus intrudes is driven by attention and stress response, and CBT works on that directly. It is a mainstream, evidence-based tinnitus treatment, not a suggestion that the sound is not real.

Does the referral cost me anything?

No. The assessment and any clinically necessary treatment under the initiative are fully funded, and accessing them does not affect your other DVA supports or entitlements.

I am over 60 — can I still get this treatment?

The pilot is limited to those under 60 with an undetermined MRCA permanent impairment claim, but tinnitus treatment for accepted conditions remains available through your Veteran Card. Start with your GP.

Can I claim the sleep and mood problems my tinnitus causes?

Potentially, where they are separately diagnosed. They are distinct conditions with their own Statements of Principles, and the treatment records from this pathway often provide the documentation.

Talk to us

If your tinnitus is not yet accepted, or you are heading into a permanent impairment assessment and want it done properly, 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 medical, legal or financial advice. Program details are current as at September 2026 — confirm your circumstances with DVA on 1800 VETERAN (1800 838 372). If you need someone to talk to, Open Arms — Veterans & Families Counselling is free and available 24 hours a day on 1800 011 046.