Citation Nr: 18157734 Decision Date: 12/14/18 Archive Date: 12/13/18 DOCKET NO. 17-04 753A DATE: December 14, 2018 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for tinnitus is granted. Entitlement to service connection for bilateral hearing loss is granted. FINDINGS OF FACT The Veteran’s tinnitus began in service and has continued to the present. The Veteran’s bilateral hearing loss was incurred in service. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW The criteria to establish service connection for tinnitus have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131, 5107 (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.307, 3.309 (2017). The criteria to establish service connection for bilateral hearing loss have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131, 5107 (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.307, 3.309 (2017). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS The Veteran served on active duty from September 1985 to September 1991. The Veteran appeals a December 2015 rating decision by the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ) denying entitlement to service connection for tinnitus and bilateral hearing loss. A Veteran is entitled to Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) disability compensation if there is a disability resulting from personal injury suffered or disease contracted in the line of duty in active service, or for aggravation of a preexisting injury suffered or disease contracted in the line of duty in active service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131. Generally, to establish a right to compensation for a present disability, a Veteran must show: (1) a present disability; (2) an 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, the so-called “nexus” requirement. Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1167 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Service connection may be granted for any disease diagnosed after discharge, when all of the evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that a disease was incurred in service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(d). Under 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(b), claims for chronic diseases enumerated in 38 C.F.R. § 3.309(a) benefit from a relaxed evidentiary standard. See Walker v. Shinseki, 708 F.3d 1331, 1339 (Fed. Cir. 2013). Tinnitus and hearing loss have been interpreted as such a disease. Where the evidence shows a “chronic disease” in service or “continuity of symptoms” after service, the disease shall be presumed to have been incurred in service. With a chronic disease shown in service, subsequent manifestations of the same chronic disease at any later date, however remote, are service-connected, unless clearly attributable to intercurrent causes. To show a chronic disease in service, the record must contain a combination of manifestations sufficient to identify the disease entity, and sufficient observation to establish chronicity at the time. If chronicity in service is not established, a showing of continuity of symptoms after discharge is required to support the claim. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(b); Walker v. Shinseki, 708 F.3d 1331, 1339 (Fed. Cir. 2013). 1. Entitlement to service connection for tinnitus The Veteran contends his tinnitus and hearing loss are due to firing exercises conducted while aboard battleships in service. See January 2017 Form 9. He states he was attached to the main battery division and did not wear overhead ear protection. Id. The Veteran has reported that he first began to experience tinnitus after being around naval gunfire in service aboard battleships, and that such condition continued thereafter and up to the present. See September 2016 Notice of Disagreement. Because tinnitus is a condition capable of lay observation, the Veteran is competent to testify as to his observed symptoms. The Board finds that the Veteran’s assertions are credible. Because the Veteran’s tinnitus began in service and has continued to the present, service connection for tinnitus is warranted. 2. Entitlement to service connection for bilateral hearing loss The Veteran’s service treatment records include an entrance examination that did not show hearing loss for VA purposes. Several other in-service audiograms, however, reflect showing hearing loss for VA purposes. For example, pure tone thresholds in the Veteran’s November 1987 examination, in decibels, were as follows: HERTZ 500 1000 2000 3000 4000 RIGHT 20 25 35 30 30 LEFT 25 30 40 35 25 See November 1987 STR. Pure tone thresholds in the Veteran’s January 1988 examination, in decibels, were as follows: HERTZ 500 1000 2000 3000 4000 RIGHT 20 30 35 30 30 LEFT 30 30 40 30 25 See January 1988 STR. Post service treatment records likewise reflect hearing loss for VA purposes. Because hearing loss is a chronic disease that was noted in service and has also been noted again following service, presumptive service connection for bilateral hearing loss is warranted under 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(b). The appeal is accordingly granted. DONNIE R. HACHEY Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD A. Zheng, Associate Counsel