Citation Nr: 21000590
Decision Date: 01/05/21	Archive Date: 01/05/21

DOCKET NO. 19-33 065
DATE: January 5, 2021

REMANDED

Entitlement to service connection for bilateral hearing loss.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served honorably on active duty in the U.S. Army from April 1960 to April 1962 and from July 1962 to June 1965.

This case comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from an August 2018 rating decision of the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).  This case was previously before the Board in April 2020.

Remand is required to obtain an adequate addendum opinion.  Where VA provides the veteran with an examination in a service connection claim, the examination must be adequate.  Barr v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 303, 311 (2007).  When a Veteran has provided competent lay statements of an in-service injury, the examiner must consider and address them when developing their rationale.  Dalton v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 23, 39-40 (2007) (holding that when the Veteran has provided lay testimony of an in-service injury, an examiner cannot ignore that lay evidence and base his or her opinion that there is no relationship to service on the absence of in-service corroborating medical records).

In October 2020 a VA audiological examiner opined that the Veteran’s bilateral hearing loss was less likely than not related to service.  In doing so, the examiner appeared to rely solely on the lack of objective documentation of hearing loss in the service treatment records and failed to address the Veteran’s assertion of continuity of symptomatology.  As noted in the prior remand, in a December 2005 VA record, the Veteran reported chronic hearing loss in his left ear since he was 28-years old, around the same time he left service.  Accordingly, remand is required.

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

1.  Obtain an addendum opinion from the examiner who conducted the October 2020 VA audiological examination, if reasonably available.  The entire claims file must be made available to and be reviewed by the examiner.  If examinations are deemed necessary, they shall be provided.  An explanation for all opinions expressed must be provided.

The examiner must provide an opinion regarding whether it is at least as likely as not (50 percent or greater probability) that the bilateral hearing loss had onset in, or is otherwise related to, active service.

The examiner must address the following: 1) the Veteran’s assertion of symptoms of diminished hearing since approximately 1965 or right around the time he was discharged from active service; 2) the conceded in-service noise exposure due to his MOS as a Field Communications Operator; and 3) and the Veteran’s post-service noise exposure.

2.  Notify the Veteran that it is his responsibility to report for any scheduled examination and to cooperate in the development of the claim, and that the consequences for failure to report for a VA examination without good cause may include denial of the claim.  38 C.F.R. §§ 3.158, 3.655 (2020).  In the event that the Veteran does not report for any scheduled examination, documentation must be obtained which shows that notice scheduling the examination was sent to the last known address.  It must also be indicated whether any notice that was sent was returned as undeliverable.

 

 

K. MILLIKAN

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	David Nelson

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.