Citation Nr: 18144652
Decision Date: 10/25/18	Archive Date: 10/24/18

DOCKET NO. 13-25 795
DATE:	October 25, 2018
REMANDED
Entitlement to a compensable rating for right ear hearing loss is remanded.
REFERRED
The issue of entitlement to service connection for otitis media was raised during the Veteran’s November 2014 Board hearing and is referred to the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ) for adjudication.
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran served on active duty from December 1987 to December 2000.  This matter is before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a February 2013 rating decision of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).  A hearing was held before the undersigned on November 2014, a transcript of which is of record. 
Entitlement to a compensable rating for right ear hearing loss is remanded.
The Board finds that before a determination can be made, the Veteran’s claim for a compensable rating for right ear hearing loss must be remanded for further evidentiary development.  
The Veteran was last provided a VA examination in November 2012, which reflected a right ear average puretone threshold of 37.5 and a speech discrimination score of 100; warranting a noncompensable rating for the Veteran’s right ear hearing loss.  
However, in correspondence received in April 2013, the Veteran asserted that his hearing had worsened significantly.  In his August 2013 VA Form 9, Substantive Appeal, the Veteran argued that he was appealing because the hearing in his right ear continues to decrease.  While the Board notes that at the November 2014 Board hearing the Veteran argued primarily that he warrants an increased rating also because he has a separate diagnosis of chronic otitis media, that matter is not part of the evaluation of the Veteran’s right ear hearing loss and is being referred to the AOJ for separate evaluation for service connection.  Regardless, in light of the claims of worsening of the right ear hearing loss separate from the claim for service connection for otitis media, the Board finds that the claim must be remanded to address the current severity of symptoms of the service-connected right ear hearing loss.  38 C.F.R. § 3.159(c)(4)(i); see Snuffer v. Gober, 10 Vet. App. 400, 403 (1997); see also Green v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 121, 124 (1991). 
The matter is REMANDED for the following actions:
1. Obtain, with any necessary assistance from the Veteran, the Veteran’s treatment records from Naval Hospital Bremerton and the Madigan Army Medical Center at Fort Lewis and any additional treatment facilities as identified by the Veteran.  
2. After receiving all additional records, schedule the Veteran for an appropriate VA examination to determine the current nature and severity of his service-connected right ear hearing loss.  The electronic claims file must be made available to the examiner for review in conjunction with the examination.
All pertinent symptomatology and findings must be reported in detail.  All indicated diagnostic tests and studies must be accomplished.  The clinician should identify the nature and severity of all manifestations of the Veteran’s right ear hearing loss.  Any appropriate Disability Benefits Questionnaire (DBQ) should be filled out for this purpose, if possible.
 
KEITH W. ALLEN
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	LM Stallings, Associate Counsel