Citation Nr: 18157058
Decision Date: 12/11/18	Archive Date: 12/11/18

DOCKET NO. 16-11 902
DATE:	December 11, 2018
REMANDED
Entitlement to service connection for bilateral hearing loss disability is remanded. 
REASONS FOR REMAND
The Veteran, who is the appellant in this case, served on active duty from April 1962 to October 1969.
This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from an March 2014 rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in San Diego, California.
Entitlement to service connection for bilateral hearing loss disability is remanded.
A remand is necessary for the RO to readjudicate the claim in light of new relevant VA evidence, which was added to the claims file without a waiver of Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ) consideration.  The RO issued a Statement of the Case (SOC) regarding the Veteran’s bilateral hearing loss disability in February 2016.  Subsequently, relevant VA treatment records, as well as two VA audiology examination reports dated April 2016 and June 2016, were associated with the claims file.  The RO did not then readjudicate the appeal in a supplemental statement of the case (SSOC), and the Veteran did not provide a waiver of AOJ consideration of this new evidence.  Therefore, the Board may not consider the evidence in the first instance.  See 38 C.F.R. § 20.1304(c) (2017). 
The matter is REMANDED for the following action:
1. Review the claims file, specifically to include VA-generated evidence since the February 2016 SOC, and complete any additional development necessary, to include obtaining an additional medical opinion, if indicated. 
2.  Then, readjudicate the issue on appeal in a SSOC considering all evidence. 
 
S. B. MAYS
Veterans Law Judge
Board of Veterans’ Appeals
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	                                         S. Ross, Law Clerk