Citation Nr: 18153713 Decision Date: 11/28/18 Archive Date: 11/28/18 DOCKET NO. 16-55 713 DATE: November 28, 2018 ORDER Service connection for tinnitus is denied. FINDING OF FACT The weight of the evidence is against a finding that the Veteran’s tinnitus began during service, within one year of separation from service, or was otherwise caused by his active service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for tinnitus have not been met. 38 U.S.C. § 1131; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.304, 3.307, 3.309. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran had active service in the Army from May 1982 to November 1989.   Service Connection Service connection will be granted if the evidence demonstrates that a current disability resulted from an injury or disease incurred in or aggravated by active military service. 38 U.S.C. § 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. Service connection requires competent evidence showing: (1) the existence of a present disability; (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; 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, 1167 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Service connection may also be established under 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(b), where a condition in service is noted but is not, in fact, chronic, or where a diagnosis of chronicity may be legitimately questioned. The continuity of symptomatology provision of 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(b) has been interpreted as an alternative to service connection only for the specific chronic diseases listed in 38 C.F.R. § 3.309(a). See Walker v. Shinseki, 718 F.3d 1331 (Fed. Cir. 2013). Service connection may also be established with certain chronic diseases based upon a legal presumption by showing that the disorder manifested itself to a degree of 10 percent disabling or more within one year from the date of separation from 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. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1101, 1112, 1113, 1137; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307, 3.309(a). While the disease need not be diagnosed within the presumption period, it must be shown, by acceptable lay or medical evidence, that there were characteristic manifestations of the disease to the required degree during that time. The Veteran filed his service connection claim for tinnitus in October 2013, which was denied by a November 2015 rating decision. He asserts that his tinnitus is due to his active service. The Veteran reported that he had military noise exposure during his active service, which included trucks and planes. The Veteran’s military noise exposure is not at issue. However, for service connection to be warranted it must be shown that such noise exposure actually caused tinnitus. The Veteran’s STRs contain no complaints, symptoms, treatment, or diagnosis of tinnitus. In October 2015, the Veteran was afforded a VA examination. The Veteran reported noise exposure during his active service. He also reported his tinnitus began approximately 15 years previously and did not recall a specific incident that preceded the onset of tinnitus. After reviewing the Veteran’s claim’s file, interviewing the Veteran, and conducting an examination, the examiner opined that the Veteran’s tinnitus was less likely than not due to his active service. The examiner reported that in the absence of an objectively verifiable noise injury, the association between tinnitus and noise exposure could not be assumed to exist. The examiner reported that tinnitus could occur following a single exposure to high-intensity impulse noise, long-term exposure to repetitive impulses, long-term exposure to continuous noise, or exposure to a combination of impulses and continuous noise. The Veteran has not submitted any medical evidence supporting his assertion that his tinnitus is due to his active service. VA obtained a medical opinion in an effort to support the Veteran in establishing his claim. The October 2015 VA examiner opined that the Veteran’s tinnitus was less likely than not due to his active service. The Veteran’s STRs are silent for any complaints or diagnoses of tinnitus. At the October 2015 VA examination, he reported that his tinnitus began approximately 15 years previously, or around 2000, while his separation from active service was in 1989, eleven years earlier. Based on the foregoing, it is not shown that the Veteran’s tinnitus had its onset in service or within one year of his separation of service. Therefore, it is also not shown that the Veteran has had tinnitus continuously since service. The Board acknowledges that the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims has specifically held that tinnitus is a type of disorder associated with symptoms capable of lay observation, and that lay testimony may provide sufficient support for a claim of service connection. However, here, the Veteran has not asserted that he first noticed tinnitus in service or within one year of service separation. As such, the weight of the evidence is against a finding that the Veteran’s tinnitus either began during or was otherwise caused by his military noise exposure. Therefore, after weighing all the evidence, the Board finds great probative value in the October 2015 VA examiner’s opinion. Thus, the evidence fails to establish service connection for the Veteran’s tinnitus. Accordingly, the criteria for service connection for tinnitus has not been met, and the Veteran’s claim is denied THOMAS H. O'SHAY Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD T. Berryman, Counsel