Find your job
Pick your branch and type your code (like 11B, 2A6X1) or job title (like infantry, mechanic). If your exact job is not listed, the tool shows the closest matches — which is what VA raters do too.
What this list is — and why it matters
On September 2, 2010, the VA issued Fast Letter 10-35, which introduced the Duty MOS Noise Exposure Listing. It is a Department of Defense–verified list that maps military jobs to a probability of hazardous noise exposure: Highly Probable, Moderate, or Low. VA raters use it as a job aid when they decide hearing loss and tinnitus claims.
Here is the part that matters for your claim. If your documented duty position shows a Highly Probable or Moderate probability of hazardous noise, the VA concedes that you were exposed to hazardous noise in service — without you having to prove it separately. Conceding that in-service exposure is often the hardest part of a hearing loss or tinnitus claim to establish. This list can do it for you based on your job alone.
How to use what you find
If your job is Highly Probable or Moderate
- Your in-service noise exposure should be conceded based on your documented MOS/AFSC/rating.
- Make sure your claim clearly states your duty position, and that it is documented in your records (DD-214, personnel file).
- The probability level (Highly Probable or Moderate) should be passed to the VA examiner in the exam request — it tells them noise exposure is already conceded.
If your exact job is not listed, or shows Low
- Not listed? The VA looks for the closest equivalent job — and so does this tool. Real VA decisions have used, for example, "Powerline Distribution Specialist" (Highly Probable) for a lineman whose exact title was not on the list, or mapped a Coast Guard "Radarman" to "Operations Specialist."
- Low, or an early-career job? The list is not the only way to prove noise exposure. Combat service concedes it automatically. So can lay statements about weapons, aircraft, or machinery you worked around, plus buddy statements and any documented noise incident.
- You are always allowed to describe your actual noise exposure in your own words. The VA must consider it.
A note on tinnitus specifically
Tinnitus (ringing in the ears) is treated a little differently, and in a way that often favors veterans. It is a subjective condition — the VA accepts your own report of it as evidence that it exists, because you are competent to report your own symptoms. Combined with a conceded in-service noise exposure from this list, a credible statement that your tinnitus began in or shortly after service is often enough to support the claim. Many tinnitus grants turn on exactly this combination.
Verify & Official Sources
VA — Hazardous exposure & disability → VA — How to file a disability claim →