Citation Nr: 18146351
Decision Date: 10/31/18	Archive Date: 10/31/18

DOCKET NO. 16-10 487
DATE:	October 31, 2018
REMANDED
Entitlement to a compensable initial rating for bilateral hearing loss disability is remanded.
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran had active military service from September 1969 to April 1971.
This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) from a June 2015 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Regional Office (RO) in Buffalo, New York.  
In October 2018, the Veteran testified at a Board hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge.  
The claims file includes VA examination reports from March 2012 and June 2015, and a private examination report from March 2015.  The mere passage of time does not render an old examination inadequate.   However, the Veteran, who testified at the 2018 Board hearing, is competent to state that he perceives a worsening of his hearing acuity since the last examination, which was more than three years ago.  Further, his wife, a retired registered nurse, testified that she perceives that his hearing has gotten worse as she now has to repeat things several times when speaking to the Veteran (when before she had to repeat herself less). Thus, the Board finds that he should be afforded another examination. See Palczewski v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 174, 182 (2007), Snuffer v. Gober, 10 Vet. App. 400 (1997).  
In addition, the most recent VA clinical records are from 2016; the Board finds that updated treatment records, if any, should be associated with the claims file. 
The matter is REMANDED for the following action:
1. Associate with the claims file any outstanding pertinent treatment records, including additional VA treatment records, if any, (such as those that may have been created since the last such update of the claims file). 
2. Schedule the Veteran for an examination by an appropriate clinician to determine the current severity of his hearing loss disability. 
 
M. C. GRAHAM
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	T. Wishard