II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1582 

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit reports on the provision of services by the Department of Veterans Affairs to veterans 

with hearing loss and other auditory system injuries and the measures 

that can be taken jointly by the Department of Veterans Affairs and 

the Department of Defense with respect to hearing loss and other auditory system injuries, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 28, 2013 

Mr. SANDERS introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit reports on the provision of services by the Department 

of Veterans Affairs to veterans with hearing loss and 

other auditory system injuries and the measures that 

can be taken jointly by the Department of Veterans 

Affairs and the Department of Defense with respect to 

hearing loss and other auditory system injuries, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Improved Compensa3 tion for Hearing Loss Act of 2013’’. 

4 SEC. 2. REPORT ON PRACTICES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF 

5 VETERANS AFFAIRS TO ADEQUATELY PRO6 VIDE SERVICES TO VETERANS WITH HEAR7 ING LOSS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 

9 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Vet10 erans Affairs shall submit to the Committee on Veterans’ 

11 Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ Af12 fairs of the House of Representatives a report on the ac13 tions taken by the Secretary to implement the findings 

14 and recommendations included in the 2006 report by the 

15 Institute of Medicine of the National Academies entitled 

16 ‘‘Noise and Military Service: Implications for Hearing 

17 Loss and Tinnitus’’ that was prepared pursuant to section 

18 104 of the Veterans Benefits Act of 2002 (Public Law 

19 107–330; 116 Stat. 2822). 

20 (b) EFFECT OF DUTY MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL

21 SPECIALTY NOISE EXPOSURE LISTING ON RECEIPT OF

22 BENEFITS BY VETERANS.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall include 

24 in the report required by subsection (a) an evalua25 tion of the extent to which veterans who had a mili26 tary occupational specialty during service as a memVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:22 Oct 29, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1582.IS S1582

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1 ber of the Armed Forces that is not included on the 

2 Duty Military Occupational Specialty Noise Expo3 sure Listing (in this subsection referred to as the 

4 ‘‘MOS List’’) are precluded from receiving benefits 

5 related to hearing loss from the Department of Vet6 erans Affairs. 

7 (2) DATA.—The Secretary shall include in the 

8 evaluation required by paragraph (1) the following: 

9 (A) With respect to veterans who had a 

10 military occupational specialty included on the 

11 MOS List— 

12 (i) the number of claims for benefits 

13 related to hearing loss from the Depart14 ment of Veterans Affairs that were grant15 ed; and 

16 (ii) the number of claims for benefits 

17 related to hearing loss from the Depart18 ment that were denied. 

19 (B) With respect to veterans who had a 

20 military occupational specialty not included on 

21 the MOS List— 

22 (i) the number of claims for benefits 

23 related to hearing loss from the Depart24 ment that were granted; 


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1 (ii) the number of claims for benefits 

2 related to hearing loss from the Depart3 ment that were denied; 

4 (iii) of the number of denied claims 

5 under clause (ii), the number of those 

6 claims that were appealed; and 

7 (iv) of the number of appealed claims 

8 under clause (iii), the number of those ap9 pealed claims that were successfully ap10 pealed. 

11 (c) ADDITIONAL MATTERS.—The Secretary shall in12 clude in the report required by subsection (a) the fol13 lowing: 

14 (1) In the case of a veteran with unilateral 

15 hearing loss, an explanation of the scientific basis 

16 for the practice of the Department of determining a 

17 disability rating level with respect to hearing based 

18 on an examination of that veteran’s healthy ear in19 stead of the injured ear. 

20 (2) An analysis of the reduction in earning ca21 pacity for veterans as a result of unilateral hearing 

22 loss, with a focus on the ability of those veterans— 

23 (A) to detect the direction of sound; and 

24 (B) to understand speech. 


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1 (3) An explanation of the rationale for the prac2 tice of the Department of not issuing a compensable 

3 rating for hearing loss at certain levels that are se4 vere enough to require the use of hearing aids. 

5 (4) A survey of the audiologists that conduct 

6 compensation and pension examinations for the De7 partment to assess the implementation of the most 

8 recent edition of the best practices manual for hear9 ing loss and tinnitus examinations that includes the 

10 following: 

11 (A) A description of the training received 

12 by those audiologists compared to the methods 

13 described in the most recent edition of the best 

14 practices manual for hearing loss and tinnitus 

15 examinations. 

16 (B) An assessment of how those audiol17 ogists have complied with that training. 

18 (C) Whether those audiologists are using a 

19 range of tones up to 8000 hertz to test the 

20 hearing of veterans. 


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1 SEC. 3. REPORT ON JOINT PROGRAMS OF DEPARTMENT OF 

2 VETERANS AFFAIRS AND DEPARTMENT OF 

3 DEFENSE WITH RESPECT TO HEARING LOSS 

4 OF MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES AND 

5 VETERANS. 

6 Not later than one year after the date of the enact7 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall, 

8 in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, submit to 

9 Congress a report that identifies the following: 

10 (1) Goals for the Department of Veterans Af11 fairs and the Department of Defense for the preven12 tion, early detection, and treatment of hearing loss 

13 by the National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory 

14 Research of the Department of Veterans Affairs and 

15 the Hearing Center of Excellence of the Department 

16 of Defense. 

17 (2) Resources of the Department of Veterans 

18 Affairs that could be made available to assist the 

19 Department of Defense in conducting audiometric 

20 tests and tinnitus screenings for members of the 

21 Armed Forces. 

22 (3) Barriers to information being added to the 

23 Hearing Loss and Auditory System Injury Registry 

24 required under section 721(c)(1) of the Duncan 

25 Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for FisVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:22 Oct 29, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1582.IS S1582

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1 cal Year 2009 (Public Law 110–417; 122 Stat. 

2 4506). 

3 (4) Recommendations for any legislative or ad4 ministrative actions necessary with respect to the 

5 Hearing Loss and Auditory System Injury Reg6 istry— 

7 (A) to assist in achieving the goals speci8 fied in paragraph (1); 

9 (B) to improve the adjudication of claims 

10 for benefits with respect to hearing loss; and 

11 (C) to further the research objectives of 

12 the National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory 

13 Research of the Department of Veterans Affairs 

14 and the Hearing Center of Excellence of the 

15 Department of Defense. 

Æ 


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