Citation Nr: 18159710 Decision Date: 12/19/18 Archive Date: 12/19/18 DOCKET NO. 16-59 775 DATE: December 19, 2018 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for bilateral hearing loss is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for vertigo, claimed as instability and balance loss is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for tinnitus is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND Entitlement to service connection for bilateral hearing loss, vertigo, and tinnitus is remanded. The Veteran contends that he suffers from bilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, and instability and balance loss as a result of his active service. In this case, the claims file does not contain the Veteran’s separation examination or service treatment records from his periods of active duty. Of record is a June 2015 letter indicating that the Veteran’s service treatment records could not be located, and were therefore unavailable for review. See Correspondence, dated June 12, 2015. In situations where the service records are incomplete, lost, or presumed destroyed through no fault of the veteran, VA has a heightened duty to assist in the development of the case, as well as a heightened obligation to explain findings and conclusions and to consider carefully the benefit-of-the-doubt doctrine. See Marciniak v. Brown, 10 Vet. App. 198, 200 (1997), citing O'Hare v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 365, 367 (1991). Notwithstanding the absence of the Veteran’s service treatment records and separation examination, the medical evidence of record indicates that the Veteran has current diagnoses of mild bilateral sensorineural hearing loss for VA compensation purposes, tinnitus, and occasional positional vertigo. See Medical Treatment Record – Non-Government Facility, dated January 26, 2016. Thus far, no examination or opinion has been provided on this issue. Accordingly, as the record indicates that the Veteran has current diagnoses of disabilities that may be associated with active service, a remand seeking such examinations and opinions is necessary. McLendon v. Nicholson, 20 Vet. App. 79 (2006). Finally, the claims file includes multiple documents that require translation from Spanish to English. The San Juan RO must translate those documents as well as any additional documents that are obtained per the development requested above that may also be in Spanish to English. The RO must associate all English translations with their respective, Spanish originals in the claims file. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Obtain English language translations of all documents in the record that are in Spanish, including but not limited to the Veteran’s statements submitted in March and June 2015. All English translations must be associated with their respective Spanish originals in the claims file. 2. After all Spanish documents in the claims file have been translated into English and all such translations have been associated with the record, schedule the Veteran for a VA Audiological examination to determine the etiology of the Veteran’s bilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, and vertigo. The examiner is asked to elicit a full history from the Veteran of his noise exposure, both in service and post-service. The examiner must opine as to the following: a.) Whether it at least as likely as not (50 percent probability or greater) that the Veteran’s bilateral hearing loss was incurred during any period of service or is otherwise etiologically related to service. b.) Whether it at least as likely as not (50 percent probability or greater) that the Veteran’s tinnitus was incurred during any period of service or is etiologically related to service. c.) Whether it at least as likely as not (50 percent probability or greater) that the Veteran’s vertigo was incurred during any period of service or is etiologically related to service. (Continued on the next page)   In rendering the above opinion, the examiner is advised that the absence of in-service evidence of a hearing disability during service is not always fatal to a service connection claim. Evidence of a current hearing loss disability and a medically sound basis for attributing that disability to service may serve as a basis for a grant of service connection for hearing loss where there is credible evidence of acoustic trauma due to significant noise exposure in service, post-service audiometric findings meeting the regulatory requirements for hearing loss disability for VA purposes, and a medically sound basis upon which to attribute the post-service findings to the injury in service. K. J. ALIBRANDO Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD A. Marsh II, Associate Counsel