Citation Nr: 21066741 Decision Date: 11/02/21 Archive Date: 11/02/21 DOCKET NO. 20-26 701 DATE: November 2, 2021 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for tinnitus is granted. FINDING OF FACT Resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran's favor, his tinnitus is at least as likely as not related to his military service. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for service connection for tinnitus have been 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 served on active duty from July 1977 to January 1978 and from June 1986 to September 1990. This matter is before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a rating decision issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In October 2021, the Board received notification that the Veteran wished to cancel his November 2021 Board hearing. As such, the Board finds the Veteran's hearing request has been withdrawn. As a result, the Board may proceed to adjudicate the Veteran's appeal on the merits. 1. Entitlement to service connection for tinnitus Service connection may be granted for a disability resulting from disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by active military, naval, or air service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(a). Service connection may be granted for any disease diagnosed after discharge, when all the evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that the disease was incurred in service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(d). Service connection for a disability requires evidence of: (1) the existence of a current disability; (2) the existence of the disease or injury in service, and (3) a relationship or nexus between the current disability and any injury or disease during service. Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Service connection may also be established for a current disability based on a presumption that certain chronic diseases manifesting themselves to a certain degree within a certain time after service must have had their onset in service. 38 U.S.C. § §§ 1112, 1113; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.304, 3.307, 3.309(a). If there is no manifestation within one year of service, service connection for a recognized chronic disease can still be established through continuity of symptomatology. 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303(b), 3.309; Walker v. Shinseki, 708 F.3d 1331 (2013). Continuity of symptomatology requires that the chronic disease have manifested in service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(b). In-service manifestation means a combination of manifestations sufficient to identify the disease entity, and sufficient observation to establish chronicity at the time, as distinguished from merely isolated findings. Id. The Veteran seeks service connection for his tinnitus, which he contends began in service and has been recurrent since that time. All three elements of service connection are established by the competent and credible lay and medical evidence of record. The Veteran has current tinnitus. See September 2018 VA examination report; as well as May 2021 private opinion. The Veteran reported he experienced the onset of tinnitus many years ago during service. He is competent to report noise exposure in service. The Board notes that the VA examiner offered an opinion in September in which she concluded, in part, that tinnitus was not due to service, as the service treatment records (STRs) show no treatment for, or complaints of, tinnitus. In contrast, the May 2021 private audiologist, stated in part, that the Veteran's current tinnitus is at least as likely as not due to the Veteran's in-service noise exposure to include aircraft and range noise. Both examiners are noted to have reviewed the Veteran's entire claims file. The Board finds that the evidence is at least in equipoise on the question of whether tinnitus is related to service. Although the VA examiner opined that the Veteran's tinnitus disability was not related to service, she based her opinion essentially on the fact that STRs are silent for such disability. Lack of contemporaneous treatment records is not fatal to the Veteran's claim. Throughout the course of this appeal, he has consistently asserted that he has experienced tinnitus since his military service. The positive and negative evidence as to the etiology of the Veteran's tinnitus is in equipoise. Resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran's favor, service connection for tinnitus is warranted. H.M. WALKER Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board M. McPhaull, 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.