Citation Nr: 21065944
Decision Date: 10/28/21	Archive Date: 10/28/21

DOCKET NO. 15-13 793
DATE: October 28, 2021

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 service from February 1966 to February 1969.  

These matters come before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a June 2013 rating decision issued by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO), which is the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ).

In June 2018, the Veteran testified at a hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge.  A transcript of the hearing has been associated with the record.

In August 2018 and October 2019, the Board remanded the case to the AOJ for further development.  The case has since been returned to the Board for appellate review.

On review, the Board finds that additional development is necessary prior to final adjudication of the Veteran's claims.

In the August 2018 remand, the Board directed the AOJ to obtain identifying information and authorization from the Veteran for any private treatment records, to specifically include any private audiograms from the Veteran's post-service employment at an automobile company.  In April 2019, the Veteran submitted copies of hearing questionnaires from Nissan Medical, dba Premise Health.  In a cover letter associated with the questionnaires, the medical administrative assistant at Premise Health noted that the hearing test results were not in the Veteran's chart, but she suggested that the Veteran call the company who provided the testing.  She also included the company name and phone number in her cover letter.  However, it does not appear that the AOJ made any attempts to obtain the private audiograms from this company.  Therefore, a remand is necessary to attempt to obtain these outstanding records.

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

1.  The AOJ should attempt to obtain the results of the hearing tests performed during the Veteran's post-service employment.  See April 2019 cover letter accompanying submission of hearing questionnaires from Premise Health, identifying OccuFit in Ringgold, Georgia, as audiogram provider and providing the phone number for that company.

2.  The AOJ should conduct any other development as may be indicated.

 

 

J.W. ZISSIMOS

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	K. Osegueda, 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.