Citation Nr: 18148174 Decision Date: 11/07/18 Archive Date: 11/06/18 DOCKET NO. 17-33 350 DATE: November 7, 2018 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for tinnitus is granted. FINDING OF FACT The most probative evidence indicates that the Veteran’s tinnitus had its onset during service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for tinnitus have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 5107 (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.307, 3.309 (2018). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty in the Marine Corps from January 1991 to June 1991, with a period of active duty for training from August 1990 to November 1990. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a February 2016 rating decision of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). This appeal has been advanced on the Board’s docket pursuant to 38 C.F.R. §20.900(c) (2018). 38 U.S.C. § 7107(a)(2) (2012). 1. Service Connection for Tinnitus Service connection may be established for a disability resulting from disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. Evidence of continuity of symptomatology from the time of service until the present is required where the chronicity of a chronic condition manifested during service either has not been established or might reasonably be questioned. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(b); see also Walker v. Shinseki, 708 F.3d 1331, 1340 (Fed. Cir. 2013) (holding that only conditions listed as chronic diseases in § 3.309(a) may be considered for service connection under 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(b). Regulations also provide that service connection may be granted for any disease diagnosed after discharge, when all the evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that the disability was incurred in service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(d). Generally, in order to prove service connection, there must be competent, credible evidence of (1) a current disability, (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of an injury or disease, and (3) a nexus, or link, between the current disability and the in-service disease or injury. See, e.g., Davidson v. Shinseki, 581 F.3d 1313 (Fed. Cir. 2009); Pond v. West, 12 Vet. App. 341 (1999). Moreover, where a veteran served continuously for 90 days or more during active service, and tinnitus becomes manifest to a degree of 10 percent within one year from date of termination of such service, such disease shall be presumed to have been incurred in service, even though there is no evidence of such disease during the period of service. This presumption is rebuttable by affirmative evidence to the contrary. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1101, 1112, 1113, 1137; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307, 3.309. The Veteran contends that he has tinnitus and that it started while in service as a result of exposure to noise; specifically, as a result of being constantly subjected to noise exposure stemming from the amtrak vehicle’s diesel engine. See March 2016 Notice of Disagreement; January 2016 VA examination. Initially, the Veteran is currently diagnosed with tinnitus. See January 2016 VA examination. The Veteran’s service treatment records (STRs) are silent as to any mention of tinnitus. His DD Form 214 shoes that he served in the Marine Corps and his specialty was Assault Amphibian Crewman. His assertion of exposure to loud noise is consistent with the circumstances of his service. See 38 U.S.C. § 1154(a). The question becomes whether the Veteran’s tinnitus arose in service or is related to service. During the January 2016 VA examination, the Veteran reported that his tinnitus began during service while he was on the amtrak troop carrier. When a condition may be diagnosed by its unique and readily identifiable features, as is the case with tinnitus, the presence of the disorder is not a determination “medical in nature,” and is capable of lay observation. Barr v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 303, 305 (2007). When a claim involves a diagnosis based on purely subjective complaints, the Board is within its province to weigh the Veteran’s testimony and determine whether it supports a finding of service incurrence and continued symptoms since service. If it does, such testimony is sufficient to establish service connection. Id. Here, the Board finds the Veteran’s assertions that tinnitus began in service and has continued since then to be credible. The Board acknowledges that the examiner opined that the Veteran’s tinnitus was less likely than not caused by military noise exposure. However, upon review of the record and after resolving all doubt in favor of the Veteran, the Board finds that the competent and probative evidence is at least in equipoise as to whether the Veteran’s tinnitus arose in service. For the above reasons and resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran’s favor, the Board finds that service connection for tinnitus is warranted. 38 U.S.C. § 5107; 38 C.F.R. § 3.102. K. A. BANFIELD Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD G. N. Wilson, Law Clerk