VA diagnostic code 6260 is the entry in the US Department of Veterans Affairs disability rating schedule, at 38 CFR 4.87, that rates recurrent tinnitus. It carries a single 10 percent rating, whether the sound is heard in one ear, both ears or in the head, and it does not apply to objective tinnitus.

Why it matters for tinnitus

Tinnitus is the most common disability VA compensates. The Veterans Benefits Administration's 2025 Annual Benefits Report puts it first among the service-connected disabilities of all compensation recipients, at 3,583,295, against 1,690,837 for hearing loss; those are counts of disabilities, not of veterans. When VA finalised the code's current wording in 2003, it said over 200,000 veterans were rated under it.

Code 6260 sets the value of that rating. It has one level, so it does not rise with loudness or distress, and the rating decides how much tinnitus alone is worth: $180.42 a month at 10 percent from 1 December 2025, a rate VA says does not increase for dependents.

What the evidence says

  • The regulation. The eCFR text current in September 2026 lists "Tinnitus, recurrent" at 10 percent with three notes. Note 1 allows a separate tinnitus rating alongside codes 6100 (hearing loss), 6200, 6204 or others, except where tinnitus supports the rating under that other code. Note 2 assigns only a single evaluation, whether the sound is perceived in one ear, both ears or in the head. Note 3 sends objective tinnitus, which other people can hear, to the rating of whatever condition causes it.
  • The rulemaking. Before June 1999 the code required tinnitus "persistent as a symptom of head injury, concussion, or acoustic trauma"; the 1999 revision replaced that with "recurrent". VA proposed Notes 2 and 3 in 2002 after claims for a separate rating for each ear, and adopted them without change from 13 June 2003, reasoning that tinnitus is a single disability generated in the brain.
  • The courts. In Smith v. Nicholson (2006) the Federal Circuit reversed a Veterans Court ruling that bilateral tinnitus earned two ratings, holding that VA's single-rating reading of its own regulation deserved deference.
  • The 2022 proposal. VA proposed in February 2022 to delete code 6260 and rate tinnitus only within its underlying condition, with a separate 10 percent only beside hearing loss rated at 0 percent. It said current 6260 ratings would fall under 38 CFR 3.951(a), which bars reducing a rating because the schedule changes unless the disability has improved. The code remains in the published regulation.
  • Research. A 2015 systematic review of hearing impairment and tinnitus in Iraq and Afghanistan veterans described the two as, at the time, the most prevalent service-connected disabilities among US veterans. A 2025 cross-sectional study of 644 people with tinnitus and a history of military service found it bilateral in 54%, asymmetric in 35% and unilateral in 11%, and severe in 24%: a spread the flat rating does not track. A 2013 test-development study noted that the presence of tinnitus rests on the person's own report, since objective measures do not exist, and worked toward a psychoacoustic test battery. Research on the code itself is thin: none of the 73 records this entry's PubMed search returns has the code as its subject.

What this means for you

A 10 percent rating says nothing about how severe your tinnitus is; the schedule simply has no higher tier. Hearing loss, and conditions such as PTSD, are rated under their own codes. Rules change, so check VA.gov or an accredited Veterans Service Organization before filing rather than relying on any summary, this one included. A claim is no reason to wait for care: new tinnitus with sudden hearing loss needs a same-day appointment.

How it connects