Citation Nr: 18156177 Decision Date: 12/07/18 Archive Date: 12/07/18 DOCKET NO. 17-40 312 DATE: December 7, 2018 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for left ear hearing loss is granted. FINDING OF FACT Resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran’s favor, his left ear hearing loss began during active service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for left ear hearing loss are met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 5107(b); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303(a), 3.307, 3.309. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from March 1968 to February 1970. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a November 2015 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). The Veteran testified before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge in a November 2018 Travel Board hearing. The transcript from the hearing has not yet been associated with the file, as this appeal is being processed under the Board’s “One Touch” program. The hearing transcript will be processed and associated with the claims file in the ordinary course of business. 1. Entitlement to service connection for left ear hearing loss. 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) (2017). 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). For the purposes of applying the law 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, or 4000 Hertz (specified frequencies) is 40 decibels or greater; or when the auditory thresholds for at least three of the frequencies 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, or 4000 Hertz 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. “[W]hen audiometric test results at a veteran’s separation from service do not meet the regulatory requirements for establishing a ‘disability’ at that time, he or she may nevertheless establish service connection for a current hearing disability by submitting evidence that the current disability is causally related to service.” Hensley v. Brown, 5 Vet. App. 155, 160 (1993). The Veteran is seeking service connection for left ear hearing loss, which he attributes to his inservice acoustical trauma. The Veteran has previously been granted service connection for right ear hearing loss in a November 2015 rating decision. Based upon a longitudinal review of the Veteran’s claims file, the Board concludes that service connection is warranted for left ear hearing loss. A review of the Veteran’s service personnel records confirms his in-service exposure to hazardous noise. Post service treatment records show that he currently has bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. Finally, the Board concludes that the preponderance of the evidence is in equipoise as to whether the Veteran’s left ear hearing loss is related to his military service. Although a VA examiner in February 2015 concluded that the Veteran’s left ear hearing loss was not at least as likely related to his military service, a private doctor of audiology, K.L., Au. D., CCC-A, in July 2017, opined that that it was at least as likely as not that the Veteran’s current left ear hearing loss was caused by his noise exposure during service. (Continued on next page) Resolving all doubt in favor of the Veteran, service connection for left ear hearing loss is warranted. In making this determination, the Board finds the statements and testimony provided by the Veteran to be competent and credible evidence. McLendon v. Nicholson, 20 Vet. App. 79 (2006); see also Jandreau v. Nicholson, 492 F.3d. 1372, 1377 n.4 (Fed. Cir. 2007) (holding that a layperson is competent to identify observable symptoms). Evan M. Deichert Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD W. Yates, Counsel