Citation Nr: 21069776 Decision Date: 11/19/21 Archive Date: 11/19/21 DOCKET NO. 17-18 740 DATE: November 19, 2021 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for bilateral hearing loss is granted. FINDING OF FACT Resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran's favor, his bilateral hearing loss is at least as likely as not related to exposure to hazardous noise during service. CONCLUSION OF LAW 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, 3.309, 3.385. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from March to June 1988, and again from October 2001 to May 2003. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a May 2015 rating decision issued by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In July 2021, the Veteran testified at a hearing before the undersigned. Entitlement to service connection for bilateral hearing loss is granted. Service connection will be granted for a disability resulting from disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by active service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. Establishing service connection generally requires evidence of (1) a current disability; (2) an 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). When there is an approximate balance of positive and negative evidence regarding any material issue, reasonable doubt will be resolved in favor of the claimant. 38 U.S.C. § 5107; 38 C.F.R. § 3.102. For chronic diseases shown in service, the second and third elements of service connection may be established through demonstrating chronicity or continuity of symptomatology in accordance with 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(b). See Walker v. Shinseki, 708 F.3d 1331 (Fed. Cir. 2013). The Veteran asserts his current hearing loss disability is the result of hazardous noise exposure during service. For the purposes of applying the laws administered by VA, hearing loss will be considered to be a disability when the auditory threshold in any of the frequencies of 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, and 4000 Hz is 40 decibels or greater; the auditory thresholds for at least three of these frequencies 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. A December 2014 private treatment record and an April 2015 VA examination confirm the Veteran has bilateral hearing loss. See Kelly v. Brown, 7 Vet. App. 471, 474 (1995) (holding that the Board may interpret graphical representations of audiometric data as a factual finding). In June 2021, a private audiologist, D.K.G., opined that the Veteran's bilateral hearing loss is more likely than not a result of his years of service. This opinion was based on a review of the Veteran's service history and reported noise exposure in service. The Board acknowledges that the record includes a negative April 2015 VA nexus opinion regarding the Veteran's bilateral hearing loss claim, however, the Board finds the rationale provided in the April 2015 VA opinion is insufficient because it primarily relied on an absence of a documented hearing loss disability in service. See Hensley v. Brown, 5 Vet. App. 155, 157 (1993) (indicating failure to meet criteria for hearing loss at time of separation is not a bar to establishing service connection). Thus, the April 2015 VA opinion is inadequate and not entitled to probative weight. Thus, the Board finds the evidence is at least in equipoise as to whether the Veteran's current bilateral hearing loss disability is the result of the asserted military noise exposure in this case. Resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran's favor, the Board finds service connection for bilateral hearing loss is warranted. M. HYLAND Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board M. Elias, 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.