I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4320 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish a presumption of service- 
connection for certain veterans with tinnitus or hearing loss, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 9, 2017 
Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ (for herself, Mr. LOBIONDO, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. JEFFRIES, Ms. 
CLARKE of New York, Mr. LANCE, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. KING of New 
York, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. SEAN PATRICK 
MALONEY of New York, Miss GONZA´LEZ-COLO´N of Puerto Rico, Mr. 
PALLONE, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. SOTO, Mr. EVANS, Ms. NORTON, Ms. JACK-
SON LEE, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mrs. RADEWAGEN, Mr. JONES, Mr. 
SIRES, Mr. PEARCE, Mr. LOEBSACK, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. 
CARSON of Indiana, Mr. ENGEL, and Mr. MCEACHIN) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 
A BILL 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish a pre-
sumption of service-connection for certain veterans with 
tinnitus or hearing loss, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Hear our Heroes Act 
of 2017’’. 
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SEC. 2. PRESUMPTION OF SERVICE-CONNECTION FOR 
HEARING LOSS AND TINNITUS. 
Section 1112 of title 38, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following new sub-
section: 
‘‘(d)(1) For purposes of section 1110 of this title, and 
subject to the provisions of section 1113 of this title, diag-
nosed hearing loss, tinnitus, or both of a veteran described 
in paragraph (2) shall be considered to have been incurred 
in or aggravated by the active military, naval, or air serv-
ice of the veteran, notwithstanding that there is no record 
of evidence of such hearing loss or tinnitus, as the case 
may be, during the period of such service. 
‘‘(2) A veteran described in this paragraph is a vet-
eran who while on active military, naval, or air service— 
‘‘(A) was assigned to a military occupational 
specialty or equivalent described in paragraph (3); 
or 
‘‘(B) served in combat. 
‘‘(3) A military occupational specialty or equivalent 
referred to in paragraph (2)(A) is a military occupational 
specialty or equivalent in which individuals assigned to 
such military occupational specialty or equivalent in the 
active military, naval, or air service are or were likely to 
be exposed to a sufficiently high level of acoustic trauma 
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as to result in permanent hearing loss, tinnitus, or both, 
as determined by the Secretary.’’. 
SEC. 3. MODIFICATION TO SCHEDULE FOR RATES FOR DIS-
ABILITY COMPENSATION. 
Pursuant to section 1155 of title 38, United States 
Code, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall adjust the 
schedule of rating disabilities to establish a minimum dis-
ability rating for a veteran who requires a hearing aid be-
cause of a service-connected disability, including pursuant 
to section 1112(d) of such title, as amended by section 
2. 
Æ 
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