Citation Nr: 18140963 Decision Date: 10/09/18 Archive Date: 10/09/18 DOCKET NO. 16-08 980 DATE: October 9, 2018 ORDER Service connection for tinnitus is granted. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran’s tinnitus as likely as not had its onset during service or within one year after separation of service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for tinnitus have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1112, 5107 (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303, 3.307, 3.309 (2018). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from July 1970 to November 1971. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a January 2015 rating decision of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). Service Connection for Tinnitus Service connection may be granted for a disability resulting from disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by active service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131 (2018). To establish service connection for a disability, a veteran must show: (1) the existence of a present disability; (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a causal relationship between the present disability and the disease or injury incurred or aggravated during service. Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Additionally, the law provides that, where a veteran served ninety days or more of active service, and certain chronic diseases, such as tinnitus (as an organic disease of the nervous system), become manifest to a degree of 10 percent or more within one year after the date of separation from such service, such disease shall be presumed to have been incurred in service, even though there is no evidence of such disease during the period of service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1101, 1112, 1113, 1137 (2018); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307, 3.309(a). The Veteran asserts that he has tinnitus as a result of exposure to noise in service; specifically, as a result of exposure to “large 5 inch 38 caliber gun noise along with small arms firing, aircraft, helicopters, grinders, paint chippers, and air hammers while in service.” See February 2015 Notice of Disagreement (NOD). Initially, the Veteran is currently diagnosed with tinnitus. See January 2015 VA examination. The Veteran’s service treatment records (STRs) are silent as to any mention of tinnitus; however, his service DD Form 214 shows that he served in the Navy and his specialty was Boatswain’s Mate. His assertion of exposure to loud noise is consistent with the circumstances of his service. See 38 U.S.C. § 1154(a). The Veteran contends that he had tinnitus “when [he] left the Navy.” See NOD. During the January 2015 VA examination, the Veteran specifically noted that he has had tinnitus “ever since [he] was about 19 or 20.” At that time the VA examiner was unable to provide an opinion regarding the etiology of the Veteran’s tinnitus “without resorting to mere speculation.” The Veteran is competent to testify to his experiences and recollection both during service and after service. When a condition may be diagnosed by its unique and readily identifiable features, as is the case with tinnitus, the presence of the disorder is not a determination "medical in nature," and is capable of lay observation. Barr v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 303, 305 (2007). When a claim involves a diagnosis based on purely subjective complaints, the Board is within its province to weigh the Veteran's testimony and determine whether it supports a finding of service incurrence and continued symptoms since service. Id. If it does, such testimony is sufficient to establish service connection. Id. Here, the Veteran has credibly reported the onset and continuation of his tinnitus. The mandate to accord the benefit of the doubt is triggered when the evidence has reached a stage of balance. After resolving all doubt in the Veteran's favor, the Board finds that service connection for tinnitus is granted. 38 U.S.C. § 5107(b); 38 C.F.R. § 3.102; Ortiz v. Principi, 274 F.3d 1361, 1364 (Fed. Cir. 2001). K. A. BANFIELD Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD Gaby N. Wilson, Law Clerk