Citation Nr: 18141350
Decision Date: 10/10/18	Archive Date: 10/10/18

DOCKET NO. 18-21 934
DATE:	October 10, 2018
REMANDED
The issue of entitlement to service connection for hearing loss is remanded.
The issue of entitlement to service connection for tinnitus is remanded.
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran had active duty from January 1968 to January 1971, to include combat service in the Republic of Vietnam and his decorations include the Combat Infantryman Badge.
This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a June 2015 rating decision issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in San Juan, Puerto Rico. 
This appeal has been advanced on the Board’s docket pursuant to 38 C.F.R. § 20.900(c) (2017).  38 U.S.C. § 7107(a)(2) (2012).
1. Hearing loss and Tinnitus
The Veteran seeks service connection for hearing loss and tinnitus, which he attributes to exposure to loud noise during combat in the Republic of Vietnam.  Personnel records confirm that he served in Republic of Vietnam as a small weapons infantryman. See, e.g., DD Form 214.
On VA examination in May 2015, the Veteran reported that he has had “tinnitus in both ears for many years”; however, the examiner stated that the Veteran’s tinnitus began 44 years after separation from service.  As the Veteran is competent to self-diagnose tinnitus, clarification is needed to ascertain when his symptoms of tinnitus had onset.
The May 2015 examiner also noted that a VA treatment record dated June 3, 2011, shows a clinical diagnosis of hearing loss.  However, audiological testing during the VA examination shows that the Veteran did not have a hearing loss disability for compensation purposes.  See 38 C.F.R. § 3.385.  Statements following the Veteran’s VA examination indicate that he has been in receipt of ongoing VA treatment.  Critically, none of the Veteran’s VA treatment records, including those cited by the May 2015 VA examiner, have been associated with the record.  As such, remand is needed to obtain all outstanding VA treatment records.  Thereafter, reexamination is needed to ascertain whether the Veteran has a current hearing loss disability.
The matters are REMANDED for the following action:
1.  Obtain any outstanding VA treatment records.
2. Invite the Veteran to submit lay statements from himself (or others) regarding when his hearing loss and tinnitus symptoms began.  Specifically, invite the Veteran to clarify whether symptoms of tinnitus, to include ringing in the ears, began during service, or many years after service.  Provide him a reasonable period of time to submit this evidence.  
3. Schedule the Veteran for an examination by an appropriate clinician to determine the nature and etiology of any current hearing loss and tinnitus.  The examiner must opine whether hearing loss and tinnitus are at least as likely as not related to an in-service injury, event, or disease.
 
STEVEN D. REISS
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	Joshua Castillo, Counsel