Citation Nr: 18149595
Decision Date: 11/09/18	Archive Date: 11/09/18

DOCKET NO. 16-02 732
DATE:	November 9, 2018
REMANDED
Entitlement to service connection for bilateral hearing loss is remanded.
REASONS FOR REMAND
As the undersigned Veterans Law Judge noted at the April 2018 Board hearing, the Veteran suffered an in-service injury as he was exposed to in-service acoustic trauma and the examiner who conducted the June 2015 VA examination opined that the Veteran’s bilateral hearing loss was related to service.  Thus, the Veteran has two of the three elements of service connection.  Indeed, VA has granted service connection for the Veteran’s tinnitus.
For purposes of applying the laws administered by VA, impaired hearing will be considered to be a disability when the auditory threshold in any of the frequencies 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000 Hertz is 40 decibels or greater; or when the auditory thresholds for at least three of the above frequencies are 26 decibels or greater; or when speech recognition scores using the Maryland CNC Test are less than 94 percent.  38 C.F.R. § 3.385.  See Palczewski v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App.  174, 178-80 (2007) (specifically upholding the validity of 38 C.F.R. § 3.385 to define hearing loss for VA compensation purposes).
Thus, because the Veteran testified that his hearing loss had worsened since the June 2015 VA examination, another VA examination is necessary to adjudicate this appeal.  See Snuffer v. Gober, 10 Vet. App. 400, 403 (1997).

Accordingly, this matter is REMANDED in part for the following action: 
Schedule the Veteran for a VA audiological examination, the findings of which should be set forth in an examination report.
 
STEVEN D. REISS
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	T. Jones, Associate Counsel