Citation Nr: 18156038
Decision Date: 12/06/18	Archive Date: 12/06/18

DOCKET NO. 15-10 210
DATE:	December 6, 2018
ORDER
Entitlement to service connection for tinnitus is granted.
FINDING OF FACT
The evidence is at least in equipoise as to whether the Veteran’s tinnitus is causally or etiologically related to his service.
CONCLUSION OF LAW
The criteria for service connection for tinnitus are met.  38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 5107(b); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303.  
REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION
The Veteran had active service from November 1970 to May 1972.  
In July 2018, the Veteran withdrew his request for a Board hearing.  
Neither the Veteran nor his representative has raised any issues that are not discussed herein, nor have any other issues been reasonably raised by the record.  Doucette v. Shulkin, 28 Vet. App. 366 (2017).  
Entitlement to service connection for tinnitus.
The Veteran contends that his tinnitus is related to service.  In his November 2012 notice of disagreement, he stated that he was exposed to noise at Fort Bragg and Fort Jackson while training with various fire arms without any hearing protection.  On his March 2015 Form 9 Appeal, the Veteran explained that during service he was exposed to a live grenade during basic training, which landed close to him.  He contends that he has had tinnitus ever since that grenade episode.  
The Veteran’s service personnel records show that he had basic combat training.  He is competent to report symptoms of tinnitus.  Jandreau v. Nicholson, 492 F.3d 1372, 1377 (Fed. Cir. 2007).  Indeed, tinnitus may only be observed by the Veteran and cannot be objectively tested for by an examiner.  See generally Charles v. Principi, 16 Vet. App. 370 (2002).
Further, in July 2012 a private physician opined that the Veteran’s tinnitus could as likely as not have been caused, or aggravated, by his active service.  The physician noted that one cannot say exactly how long the condition existed prior to the date of diagnosis but that this type of disability could be present for years before becoming symptomatic.  Accordingly, it is at least as likely as not that the Veteran’s tinnitus had its onset during his active service.  38 C.F.R. § 3.303.  As 



(CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE)
the evidence here is at least in relative equipoise—meaning that the evidence for and against the Veteran’s claim is essentially equal—the benefit-of-the-doubt rule applies, and entitlement to service connection for tinnitus is granted.  38 U.S.C. § 5107(b); 38 C.F.R. § 3.102.

 
THERESA M. CATINO
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	M. Mac, Counsel