Citation Nr: 18159272 Decision Date: 12/19/18 Archive Date: 12/18/18 DOCKET NO. 16-56 604 DATE: December 19, 2018 ORDER Service connection for right ear hearing loss is granted. FINDING OF FACT It is at least as likely as not that the Veteran’s right ear hearing loss is related to active service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for right ear hearing loss have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 5103(a), 5103A; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.159, 3.303, 3.304, 3.309, 3.385. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from November 1966 to July 1974, with service in the Republic of Vietnam from March 1968 to January 1969. 1. Entitlement to service connection for right ear hearing loss The Veteran asserts that his right ear hearing loss is related to his active duty service, including exposure to noise from jets and helicopters during his service as a jet mechanic. Under the relevant laws and regulations, service connection may be granted for a disability resulting from disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by active service. 38 U.S.C. 1110. Generally, the evidence must show: (1) the existence of a present disability; (2) 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. Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1166 -67 (Fed. Cir. 2004); Caluza v. Brown, 7 Vet. App. 498, 505 (1995). Based upon the evidence of record, and resolving all doubt in favor of the Veteran, the Board determines that service connection is warranted for his right ear hearing loss. As an initial matter, the Board finds the Veteran’s statements regarding his in-service acoustic trauma credible given that the nature of his service as a jet mechanic is consistent with a military occupation where significant noise exposure over a prolonged period of time is an issue. Thus, the Board concedes exposure to hazardous noise for purposes of establishing an in-service event. Moreover, there appears to the Board to be a perceptible tonal threshold shift in his right ear from the time the Veteran entered service to the time he left. Specifically, he had three audiological evaluations after the August 1966 audiological evaluation performed during his entrance examination. A comparison of the tonal thresholds from the subsequent evaluations with the August 1966 audiological evaluation reflects a tonal shift in his right ear of approximately 10 dB at the 1000 Hz frequency, 5 dB at the 3000 Hz frequency, and 5 dB at the 4000 Hz frequency. Finally, audiological evaluations performed since his active duty service reflect findings which meet the requirements of 38 C.F.R. § 3.385 in his right ear. Therefore, given the presence of a threshold shift in service, the nature of the Veteran’s acoustic trauma while in service, and the presence of current hearing loss for VA purposes, the Board finds that the evidence is at least in equipoise that his right ear hearing loss is etiologically related to service. The Board notes that the negative medical evidence includes a March 2016 VA examination, where the examiner indicated that the Veteran did not have any clinically significant declines in right ear hearing thresholds during his active duty service. Nevertheless, the Board finds this rationale unpersuasive because a comparison of the August 1966 audiological evaluation from his entrance examination with the subsequent audiological evaluations shows that he had a 5-10 dB shift in right ear at the 1000 Hz, 3000 Hz, and 4000 Hz frequencies. Accordingly, the Board finds that the evidence is at least in equipoise that his right ear hearing loss is etiologically related to service. By virtue of the foregoing, the Board concludes that the weight of the evidence supports service connection or, at the very least, is in equipoise. Accordingly, service connection for right ear hearing loss should be granted. B.T. KNOPE Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD M. Crosnicker, Associate Counsel