Citation Nr: 18145076
Decision Date: 10/26/18	Archive Date: 10/25/18

DOCKET NO. 16-32 955
DATE:	October 26, 2018
ORDER
Entitlement to service connection for tinnitus is granted.
FINDING OF FACT
The evidence is in relative equipoise as to whether the Veteran’s current tinnitus is etiologically related to active service.
CONCLUSION OF LAW
The criteria for service connection for tinnitus have been met.  38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303, 3.307, 3.309.
REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION
The Veteran served on active duty from August 1988 to December 1988 and from November 1990 to July 1991.
This matter is 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 Nashville, Tennessee.
Entitlement to service connection for tinnitus.
Service connection may be granted for a disability resulting from disease or injury incurred or aggravated during active military service.  38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131.  Generally, service connection requires (1) the existence of a present disability, (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of an injury or disease, 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).  Certain disabilities are presumed to be serviced connected if manifested to a compensable degree within one year following service.  38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.307, 3.309.
In this case, the Board acknowledges that in a May 2015 VA examination report, the Veteran was diagnosed with tinnitus.  In a January 2004 VA audiology consult, the Veteran complained of occasional recurrent bilateral ringing tinnitus.  The Veteran noted that his tinnitus started over two year ago.  He reported that military noise exposure included basic weapons training and the operation of heavy equipment.  The VA examiner opined that while the Veteran’s hearing was normal bilaterally, it was at least as likely as not that his tinnitus was related to active service.
In a May 2015 VA examination report, the Veteran noted constant bilateral tinnitus he described as sounding like “when the TV shuts off and it sounds like ants.”  He also stated that he heard a “beep.”  The VA examiner opined that it was less likely than not that the Veteran’s tinnitus was caused by or a result of military noise exposure.
Weighing the available evidence, the Board finds that the January 2004 VA audiology consult, concluding that the Veteran’s tinnitus was etiologically related to active service, combined with the competent and credible lay statements from the Veteran, are of at least equal probative value to the May 2015 VA examiner’s negative nexus opinion.  The Board thus finds that it is at least as likely as not that the Veteran’s tinnitus is etiologically related to active service.  
Accordingly, the criteria for service connection have been met, and the claim is granted.
 
A. C. MACKENZIE
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	J. Abrams, Associate Counsel