Citation Nr: 18157015
Decision Date: 12/11/18	Archive Date: 12/11/18

DOCKET NO. 16-52 718
DATE:	December 11, 2018
ORDER
Service connection for left ear hearing loss is granted.

INTRODUCTION
The Veteran served on active duty from March 1984 to September 1991.
This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from an April 2015 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Denver, Colorado.
 
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, 1111, 1131; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303, 3.385.
REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION
The evidence of record establishes the presence of current left ear hearing loss that satisfies the regulatory criteria.  38 C.F.R. § 3.385.  Further, service-connection has already been granted for right ear hearing loss and tinnitus based, in part, on in-service exposure to acoustic trauma.  As such, the evidence of record establishes that the Veteran experienced an in-service event or injury with respect to this left ear.  38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303.  The salient question presented by the Veteran’s claim is, thus, whether his current left ear hearing loss was incurred in or due to his active duty, to include as due to exposure to acoustic trauma.  Id.
Pursuant to his claim, the Veteran underwent a VA audiological examination in March 2015.  After reviewing the evidence of record, interviewing the Veteran, and administering a clinical evaluation, the examiner rendered a diagnosis of left ear hearing loss.  The examiner then rendered a positive etiological opinion regarding the Veteran’s right ear hearing loss, and implicitly found that it was less likely as not (a less than 50 percent probability) that the Veteran’s left ear hearing loss was incurred during his active duty.  In support of this implicit opinion, the examiner opined as follows:
From his enlistment in 1983 to discharge in 1991, (the latest audiogram I saw was 1990) the Veteran did not have a 15 [decibel] or greater shift in the frequencies of 500 to 4000 [Hertz].
In a supplemental opinion, provided later in March 2015, the VA examiner stated the following:
I stand by my original statement that the left ear did not have hearing loss caused from military noise exposure in service, comparing audiograms from 1983 to the last audiogram available in the records, [May 22, 1990].
The examiner acknowledges that the Veteran did not have pre-existing left ear hearing loss, was exposed to acoustic trauma during active duty, and was exposed to limited or no hazardous noise after service.  However, the rendered opinion is conclusory and, moreover, entirely predicated on the lack of a sufficient (15 decibel or greater) in-service puretone threshold shift.  The examiner did not discuss the Veteran’s report of lay observable symptoms, such as decreased hearing acuity.  Specifically, during the examination, the Veteran reported that “both ears have gotten worse since discharge.”  Based on the above, the Board assigns little to no probative value to the May 2015 VA examiner’s opinion, to include the later provided addendum.
Again, the Veteran has current left ear hearing loss and the evidence of record establishes that he was exposed to in-service acoustic trauma.  The Board finds the Veteran’s assertions as to experiencing in-service decreased hearing acuity and post-service worsening hearing acuity to be both competent and credible evidence thereof.  Jandreau v. Nicholson, 492 F.3d 1372, 1377 (Fed. Cir. 2007); Buchanan v. Nicholson, 451 F.3d 1331 (Fed. Cir. 2006).  Consequently, the Board finds that the evidence of record is at least in equipoise as to whether the Veteran’s current left ear hearing loss was incurred or due to his active duty.  38 U.S.C. § 5107; 38 C.F.R. § 3.102; Gilbert v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 49, 53 (1990).  As such, with application of the benefit of the doubt doctrine, service connection for left ear hearing loss is warranted.
 
T. REYNOLDS
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	Sean G. Pflugner, Counsel