Citation Nr: 18145208
Decision Date: 10/26/18	Archive Date: 10/26/18

DOCKET NO. 17-32 019
DATE:	October 26, 2018
REMANDED
Entitlement to an initial rating in excess of 10 percent for bilateral hearing loss is remanded.
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran served on active duty in the United States Navy from August 1960 to August 1964. 
In November 2017, the claim was brought before the Board and was remanded for further development.
Bilateral Hearing Loss
Although the Board sincerely regrets further delay, another remand is necessary to afford the Veteran every possible consideration. 
The Veteran contends that his bilateral hearing loss is more severe in nature, especially in his left ear where he states he cannot hear anything. 
In June 2018, the Veteran was provided a hearing examination. The examiner provided that the pure tone test results were not valid for rating purposes. The examiner elaborated that the Veteran was instructed and retested but results were still deemed inconsistent and unreliable. 
The Board finds the June 2018 VA opinion is inadequate to fairly adjudicate the Veteran’s claim for increased rating. Although the examiner noted that the pure tone testing was invalid, and thus results could not be provided, the examiner did provide the Veteran’s speech discrimination scores, which showed worsening results than his last VA examination. Unfortunately, although it is clear the Veteran’s hearing is at least somewhat worse, without the pure tone thresholds the Board cannot determine the appropriate rating under 38 C.F.R. § 4.85, Tables VI and VII, Diagnostic Code 6100.
The Board recognizes that the Veteran provided a VA audiological test from November 2016 that was conducted for his receipt of hearing aids. However, the results showed nearly the same pure tone thresholds as his initial examination in July 2016 and speech discrimination scores were also not provided. The Board additionally recognizes the Veteran has provided a private medical examination from June 2017. Although this examination did show a more severe hearing loss, the examination was not conducted using the Maryland CNC controlled speech discrimination test as required by VA regulations. See 38 C.F.R. § 3.385 (a). Therefore, the Board unfortunately cannot use the June 2017 private medical examination for determining the Veteran’s current hearing impairment.
As such, due to the recent June 2018 VA examination and June 2017 private medical examination being inadequate, but also showing some form of worsening in the Veteran’s hearing, the Board finds that a remand is required in order to obtain a new medical examination to determine the actual current severity of the Veteran’s bilateral hearing loss. See Weggenmann v. Brown, 5 Vet. App. 281 (1993).
The matter is REMANDED for the following action:
1. Obtain and associate with the Veteran’s electronic claims file any outstanding VA treatment records and private medical records relevant to the Veteran’s claim.
2. After all outstanding records have been associated with the file, schedule the Veteran for a VA examination with an examiner other than the examiners who performed the July 2016 examination and the June 2018 examination, to determine the current severity of his bilateral ear hearing loss. The record and a copy of this Remand must be made available to the examiner.  
The examiner should perform all necessary tests and studies, and all pertinent symptoms and clinical findings should be reported in detail.


 
JENNIFER HWA
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	J. Negron, Associate Counsel