Citation Nr: 0811781 Decision Date: 04/09/08 Archive Date: 04/23/08 DOCKET NO. 05-01 615 ) DATE ) ) On appeal from the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in St. Petersburg, Florida THE ISSUE Entitlement to an initial compensable evaluation for a bilateral hearing loss disability. REPRESENTATION Appellant represented by: The American Legion ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD Linda E. Mosakowski, Associate Counsel INTRODUCTION The veteran served on active duty from March 1956 to March 1962. This matter comes to the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a May 2004 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in St. Petersburg, Florida. In September 2007, the Board remanded this appeal for the RO to schedule a personal hearing for the veteran before a Veterans Law Judge at the RO. Since the veteran failed to appear at the scheduled February 2008 hearing, this appeal is ready for further Board review. The appeal is REMANDED to the RO via the Appeals Management Center (AMC), in Washington, D.C. VA will notify the appellant if further action is required. REMAND A compensation and pension (C&P) audio examination was conducted in April 2004. In a March 2007 statement in support of his claim, the veteran asserted that his hearing loss had worsened since his last C&P audio examination. VA's General Counsel has indicated that when a claimant asserts that the severity of a disability has increased since the most recent rating examination, an additional examination is appropriate. VAOPGCPREC 11-95 (April 7, 1995). Given the veteran's statement of increased severity of his disability since the last exam, an updated VA audio examination is required in order to make an informed decision regarding the veteran's current level of functional impairment and evaluate adequately his current level of disability. Snuffer v. Gober, 10 Vet. App. 400, 403 (1997) (VA should have provided an examination based on veteran's complaint of increased hearing loss since his examination two years before). Accordingly, the case is REMANDED for the following action: 1. The RO/AMC should arrange for the veteran to undergo a VA examination. The claims folder should be made available to and reviewed by the examiner. All indicated studies, including an audiological evaluation, should be performed, and all findings should be reported in detail. All findings and conclusions should be set forth in a legible report. 2. Thereafter, the RO/AMC should readjudicate the veteran's claim. If the benefit sought on appeal is not granted, the RO/AMC should issue the veteran and his representative a supplemental statement of the case and provide the veteran with an opportunity to respond. The appellant has the right to submit additional evidence and argument on the matter or matters the Board has remanded. Kutscherousky v. West, 12 Vet. App. 369 (1999). This claim must be afforded expeditious treatment. The law requires that all claims that are remanded by the Board of Veterans' Appeals or by the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims for additional development or other appropriate action must be handled in an expeditious manner. See 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 5109B, 7112 (West Supp. 2007). _________________________________________________ STEVEN D. REISS Acting Veterans Law Judge, Board of Veterans' Appeals Under 38 U.S.C.A. § 7252 (West 2002), only a decision of the Board of Veterans' Appeals is appealable to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. This remand is in the nature of a preliminary order and does not constitute a decision of the Board on the merits of your appeal. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1100(b) (2007).