Citation Nr: 20022407 Decision Date: 03/31/20 Archive Date: 03/31/20 DOCKET NO. 17-32 003 DATE: March 31, 2020 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for tinnitus is granted. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran’s current tinnitus was at least as likely as not incurred during active service and has continued since service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for entitlement to service connection for tinnitus have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1112, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303, 3.304, 3.307, 3.309. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty in the United States Army from April 1966 to April 1969. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) from an April 2015 rating decision of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In February 2020, the Veteran testified at a hearing before the undersigned. Service connection will be granted for a disability resulting from disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by active service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. Establishing service connection generally requires evidence of (1) a current disability; (2) an in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a nexus between the claimed in-service disease or injury and the current disability. Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1167 (Fed. Cir. 2004). When there is an approximate balance of positive and negative evidence regarding any material issue, reasonable doubt will be resolved in favor of the claimant. 38 U.S.C. § 5107; 38 C.F.R. § 3.102. For chronic diseases shown in service, the second and third elements of service connection may be established through demonstrating chronicity or continuity of symptomatology in accordance with 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(b). See Walker v. Shinseki, 708 F.3d 1331 (Fed. Cir. 2013). Tinnitus is a chronic disease. See Fountain v. McDonald, 27 Vet. App. 258, 271 (2015) (section 3.309(a) “includes tinnitus, at a minimum where there is evidence of acoustic trauma, as an ‘organic disease[ ] of the nervous system’”). During the February 2020 hearing, the Veteran testified that he had ringing or buzzing in his ears while in service that he now realizes was tinnitus. Separately, the Veteran stated that he has had ringing in his ears ever since being in service. See June 2017 Statement in Support of Claim. The Veteran’s lay reports are sufficient to establish that he has tinnitus, as well as continuity of symptomatology since service. See Charles v. Principi, 16 Vet. App. 370, 374 (2002). In addition to the Veteran’s lay reports, a primary care physician at the VA opined in March 2019 that the Veteran’s tinnitus is at least as likely as not a result of exposure to explosions and noise as a result of his service in Vietnam. The Board acknowledges that, in April 2015, a VA audiologist stated that the Veteran had a diagnosis of clinical hearing loss, and that the Veteran’s tinnitus was at least as likely as not a symptom associated with the hearing loss. However, the Veteran’s competent and credible lay statements that he experienced noise injury in service, and has had ringing in his ears ever since, contradict such finding. The Board also acknowledges August 2016 and April 2017 VA opinions that the Veteran’s tinnitus is less likely than not proximately due to or the result of the Veteran’s service-connected diabetes mellitus, however, the Veteran’s tinnitus is being service connected on a direct basis. The evidence is at least in equipoise as to whether the Veteran’s tinnitus was incurred during military service and has continued ever since. By resolving any reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran, the Board finds service connection for tinnitus is warranted. M. HYLAND Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board M. Elias, Associate Counsel 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.