Citation Nr: 21062983 Decision Date: 10/12/21 Archive Date: 10/12/21 DOCKET NO. 17-49 824 DATE: October 12, 2021 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for tinnitus is granted. Entitlement to service connection for bilateral hearing loss is granted. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. The Veteran's tinnitus had its onset in service. 2. The Veteran's bilateral hearing loss had its onset in service. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1. The criteria for service connection for tinnitus have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303. 2. The criteria for service connection for bilateral hearing loss have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303, 3.385. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS The Veteran served on active duty in the United States Army from January 1969 to January 1971. These matters come before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a June 2017 rating decision issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). The Veteran and his wife testified at an August 2021 Board hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge. The Board acknowledges that VA received the Veteran's opt-in election form for the Rapid Appeals Modernization Program (RAMP) in August 2018; however, the appeal had already been activated by the Board and was therefore no longer eligible for the RAMP program. Service Connection 1. Entitlement to service connection for tinnitus. 2. Entitlement to service connection for bilateral hearing loss. Service connection will be granted if the evidence demonstrates that a current disability resulted from an injury or disease incurred or aggravated by active military service. 38 U.S.C. § 1110; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(a). In general, service connection requires competent and credible evidence of (1) a current disability; (2) 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); 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. For the purposes of applying the laws administered by VA, impaired hearing will be considered to be a disability when the auditory threshold in any of the frequencies 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000 Hertz is 40 decibels or greater; or when the auditory thresholds for at least three of the frequencies 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, or 4000 Hertz are 26 decibels or greater; or when speech recognition scores using the Maryland CNC Test are less than 94 percent. 38 C.F.R. § 3.385. The Veteran reports he has experienced continuous ringing in the ears and a decline in his hearing acuity since discharge from service as a result of a soldier firing their weapon while the Veteran was next to the soldier and did not have on hearing protection. See August 2021, Board hearing; September 2017, VA Form 9; March 2017, VA Form 21-4138. The record shows the Veteran has bilateral hearing loss for VA purposes and reports ongoing tinnitus since military service. See June 2017, VA examination (demonstrating puretone thresholds of 45 decibels or higher between 1000 to 4000 Hertz for the left and right ears). In light of the above, the Board finds the competent and credible evidence of record shows that the Veteran's current bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus began during service and have been recurrent since that time. The Veteran is competent to report the onset and continuation of his hearing loss and tinnitus symptoms and the Board finds the Veteran's lay statements credible. See Charles v. Principi, 16 Vet. App. 370, 374 (2002); see also Layno v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 465 (1994); Jandreau v. Nicholson, 492 F.3d 1372 (Fed. Cir. 2007). The Board acknowledges the June 2017 VA examiner's opinion that the Veteran's current bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus were not related to service but accords little probative weight because it solely relied on the absence of contemporaneous medical records of hearing loss during and after service. See Fountain v. McDonald, 27 Vet. App. 258, 272-75 (2015) (a medical opinion must not rely solely on the absence of contemporaneous medical evidence). Accordingly, because the evidence shows that the Veteran's bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus had their onset in service, service connection is warranted. See Flynn v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 500, 503 (1994) (noting that "the element of cause and effect has been totally by-passed in favor of a simple temporal relationship between the incurrence of the disability and the period of active duty"); see also 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(a) (Service connection connotes many factors but basically it means that the facts, shown by evidence, establish that a particular injury or disease resulting in disability was incurred coincident with service in the Armed Forces). STEVEN D. REISS Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board S. Straughn, 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.