Citation Nr: 21003662 Decision Date: 01/22/21 Archive Date: 01/22/21 DOCKET NO. 10-47 157 DATE: January 22, 2021 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for bilateral sensorineural hearing loss is granted. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran’s bilateral sensorineural hearing loss is due to noise exposure during active service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for bilateral sensorineural hearing loss are met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran had active military service from September 1970 to April 1972 and active air service from August 2004 to February 2006. He also served with the U.S. Air Force Reserves. The Veteran testified before a Veterans Law Judge other than the undersigned in a March 2013 travel Board hearing. A transcript of that hearing of record. In October 2016 correspondence, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) informed the Veteran that the Veterans Law Judge who presided over that hearing had retired from the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (the Board). A second Board hearing was held before the undersigned in December 2018. Transcripts of both hearing are of record. The Board remanded the Veteran’s claim in April 2019 to afford the Veteran VA examinations related to his claims of entitlement to service connection for bilateral knee disorders and bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. The Veteran received a VA examination related to his knees in January 2019, and the examiner concluded that the Veteran’s bilateral knee disabilities were due to a fall from a ladder in 2001. Service connection for both right and left knee disabilities was granted in a July 2020 rating decision. The July 2020 rating decision provided the Veteran with the benefits sought on appeal; accordingly, the issues of his entitlement to service connection for bilateral knee disabilities are no longer before the Board. The Veteran received VA audiological examinations in January 2019 and October 2020. The January 2019 VA examination did not include puretone thresholds because those levels could evidently not be tested. That examination is inadequate. The October 2020 VA examination is adequate, however. The objective data needed to adjudicate the Veteran’s claim is included in the examination report, and the opinions provided regarding the etiology of the Veteran’s bilateral sensorineural hearing loss comports with the Board’s April 2019 remand directives. There has been substantial compliance with remand directives, and the Board may adjudicate the Veteran’s claims. 1. Entitlement to Service Connection for Bilateral Hearing Loss The Veteran has a current diagnosis of bilateral hearing loss for VA purposes. See 38 C.F.R. § 3.385. Noise exposure during active service has also been conceded. Specifically, during active air service, the Veteran was an aircraft mechanic, exposing him to machine and jet-engine noise. His December 2018 hearing testimony also includes his description of a combat landing during which his left ear popped. He states his hearing in his left ear was never the same. Accordingly, the first two elements of service connection are met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. With respect to the third element requiring a causal nexus between the in-service event or injury and the Veteran’s current disability, the examiner responsible for the October 2020 VA examination concluded that hearing loss in the Veteran’s left ear was more likely than not due to the Veteran’s active service. The examiner noted the Veteran’s duties as a mechanic and his report that he noticed hearing loss when separating from active. The examiner’s rationale, though offered in support of a positive nexus opinion for left ear hearing loss, is not specific thereto. The examiner did not discuss why the rationale applied to left ear hearing loss but not right ear hearing loss. For instance, the examiner did not rely on the Veteran’s reports of decreased left ear hearing following a combat landing. Thus, the rationale for the positive opinion for his left ear hearing loss could just as easily be applied to hearing loss in the Veteran’s right ear. In light of this—along with the Veteran’s reports of diminished hearing acuity when he separated from active service—the Board concludes that the third element of service connection is met. In light of the foregoing, the Veteran is entitled to service connection for bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. MICHAEL A. HERMAN Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board Douglas M. Humphrey, 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.