Citation Nr: 18161163
Decision Date: 12/28/18	Archive Date: 12/28/18

DOCKET NO. 14-44 111A
DATE:	December 28, 2018

REMANDED

Entitlement to a compensable initial rating for hearing loss is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served on active duty from May 1969 to February 1971.  

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a May 2013 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Nashville, Tennessee.  Jurisdiction of the case currently lies with the RO in Los Angeles, California.

In March 2018, the Veteran testified at a Travel Board hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge.  A transcript of that hearing has been associated with the claims file.

Entitlement to a compensable initial rating for hearing loss is remanded.

The Veteran testified at the March 2018 Board hearing that his hearing loss disability has worsened since his last VA examination in January 2017.  VA’s duty to assist includes the conduct of a thorough and comprehensive medical examination.  Robinette v. Brown, 8 Vet. App. 69, 76 (1995).  This includes providing a new medical examination when a veteran asserts or provides evidence that a disability has worsened and the available evidence is too old for an adequate evaluation of the current condition.  Weggenmann v. Brown, 5 Vet. App. 281, 284 (1993); see also Caffrey v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 377, 381 (1994) (finding that VA should have ordered a contemporaneous examination of veteran because a 23-month old exam was too remote in time to adequately support the decision in an appeal for an increased rating).  Accordingly, a more contemporaneous VA examination is required to provide a current picture of the Veteran’s service-connected hearing loss, at issue on appeal.  38 C.F.R. §§ 3.326, 3.327 (2018).

Additionally, the Veteran stated at the Board hearing that he was scheduled for a hearing evaluation in April 2018.  However, the most recent VA treatment records in the claims file are dated January 2018.  Therefore, the Veteran’s updated VA treatment records should be obtained and associated with the claims file.

The matter is REMANDED for the following actions:

1. Obtain any outstanding VA treatment records for the Veteran, from the VA Community-Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) in Santa Maria, California, and all associated clinics.  All records and/or responses received should be associated with the claims file.

2. Schedule the Veteran for a VA audiological examination to determine the current severity of his service-connected hearing loss.  All pertinent symptomatology and findings must be reported in detail.  Any indicated diagnostic tests and studies must be accomplished.  Specifically, the findings of pure tone decibel loss at 1000, 2000, 3000 and 4000 Hertz must be numerically reported and speech recognition must be derived using the Maryland CNC Test.  The examiner must fully describe the functional effects caused by the Veteran’s hearing disability.  The claims file and a copy of this remand must be made available to the examiner and reviewed in conjunction with the examination.

3. After completing the above development, and any other development deemed necessary, readjudicate the claim on appeal.  If the benefit sought on appeal remains denied, provide an additional supplemental statement of the case to the Veteran, and return the appeal to the Board for appellate review, after the Veteran and his representative have had an adequate opportunity to respond.

 

L. CHU

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD	M. J. In, Counsel