Citation Nr: 20004437 Decision Date: 01/21/20 Archive Date: 01/21/20 DOCKET NO. 14-15 477 DATE: January 21, 2020 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for bilateral hearing loss is remanded. Entitlement to service connection for tinnitus is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran had active military service from January 1974 to September 1975. This case comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from an August 2012 rating decision issued by the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In January 2018, the Veteran testified before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge at a videoconference hearing. A transcript of the hearing was prepared and added to the file. This case was previously before the Board in April 2018, at which time the above issues were remanded to obtain VA addendum medical opinions. That development has been completed and the case has been returned to the Board. The Board finds that additional development is required before the claims on appeal are decided. While a March 2019 VA medical opinion was obtained, the examiner did not consider the articles submitted by the Veteran in April 2018. Notably, in the Board’s remand it instructed that any examiner should specifically address all hearing loss studies that were subsequently added to the record. Compliance with a remand is not discretionary, and failure to comply with the terms of a remand necessitates remand for corrective action. Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268 (1998). Accordingly, an addendum opinion is necessary. The Board also acknowledges that the Veteran submitted a March 2018 private audiogram from Beltone Hearing Center in support of his claims which suggests his hearing may have worsened. As hearing loss was not shown in the left ear at the later VA examination, the Board finds that additional audiological testing is warranted to determine the presence and extent of any hearing loss. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Ask the Veteran to identify all outstanding treatment records relevant to his hearing loss and tinnitus. All identified VA records should be added to the claims file. All other properly identified records should be obtained if the necessary authorization to obtain the records is provided by the Veteran. If any records are not available, or the Veteran identifies sources of treatment but does not provide authorization to obtain records, appropriate action should be taken (see 38 C.F.R. § 3.159(c)-(e)), to include notifying the Veteran of the unavailability of the records. 2. After records development is completed, schedule the Veteran for a VA examination to determine whether it is at least as likely as not (50 percent probability or greater) that any current hearing loss disability or tinnitus arose during service or is otherwise related to service, to include as due to noise exposure from his duties as an Infantryman. The examiner should elicit a full history from the Veteran and consider the lay statements of record. The Veteran is competent to attest to factual matters of which he has first-hand knowledge, and if there is a medical basis to support or doubt the history provided by the Veteran the examiner should provide a fully reasoned explanation. The examiner should explain why the Veteran’s current bilateral hearing loss is or is not merely a delayed response to in-service noise exposure. The examiner must also discuss the two articles submitted by the Veteran in March 2018 entitled “Auditory and non-auditory effects of noise on health” and “Acceleration of Age-Related Hearing Loss by Early Noise Exposure.” The examiner should explain the reasoning for any opinion provided, to include the medical significance of any findings, as the Board is precluded from making medical findings. Nathan Kroes Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board Christopher O'Donnell The Board’s decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential, and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.