Citation Nr: 21070090 Decision Date: 11/23/21 Archive Date: 11/23/21 DOCKET NO. 19-18 065 DATE: November 23, 2021 ORDER The request to reopen the claim of entitlement to service connection for tinnitus is granted. Entitlement to service connection for tinnitus is granted. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. In an October 2015 rating decision, the Veteran was denied service connection for tinnitus on the basis that evidence did not reflect his disability was related to service. The Veteran was notified of that decision in correspondence issued the same month. He did not appeal the decision, nor was material evidence received within one year. Therefore, the decision is final. 2. During a November 2021 Board hearing, the Veteran testified that he had buzzing in his ears since service. This evidence is relevant and probative, and it helps cure a prior evidentiary defect; namely, the lack of a relation to service. 3. The Veteran's tinnitus was incurred during service. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1. The October 2015 rating decision, which denied service connection for tinnitus, is final. 38 U.S.C. § 7105(c) (2018); 38 C.F.R. § 19.52 (2021). 2. The evidence received since the October 2015 rating decision, which denied service connection for tinnitus, is new and material, and the claim is reopened. 38 U.S.C. §§ 5108, 7105 (2018); 38 C.F.R. § 3.156 (2021). 3. The criteria for entitlement to service connection for tinnitus have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131, 5107(b) (2018); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303, 3.304 (2021). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS The Veteran served on active duty from June 1991 to July 2000. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a June 2016 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). In November 2021, the Veteran and his spouse testified at a Board hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge. For the reasons discussed above, the request to reopen the previously denied claim of service connection for tinnitus is granted. The issue will not be discussed further herein. Entitlement to service connection for tinnitus. Service connection may be established for a disability resulting from a disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by active service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. Service connection requires evidence showing: (1) a current disability; (2) incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury in service; and (3) a nexus between the current disability and the disease or injury incurred or aggravated in service. See Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1167 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Service connection may be granted for any disease diagnosed after discharge, when all the evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that the disability was incurred in service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(d). The Veteran is diagnosed with recurrent tinnitus. See June 2016 VA examination. Service treatment records (STRs) reflect that the Veteran was routinely exposed to noise during service. See, e.g., June 2000 STRs. As a result, noise exposure is conceded. As reported by a VA examiner, the Veteran reported that he had constant bilateral tinnitus for the past three to four years. The examiner then opined that it was less likely than not that the Veteran's tinnitus was related to military noise exposure because the Veteran had stable hearing thresholds in service and had delayed onset of tinnitus. See June 2016 VA examination. During his November 2021 Board hearing, the Veteran testified that he had ringing in his ears that began during service and continued from that time. He reported that the June 2016 VA examiner had asked him how long his wife had noticed his tinnitus, and he replied that she had noticed it for the past three to four years; the examiner did not ask him how long he had noticed it himself. The undersigned had the opportunity to observe the Veteran and finds his testimony credible. In light of this competent and credible testimony, the Board finds that the June 2016 VA examiner's opinion is inadequate because it relied on the inaccurate factual premise that the Veteran's tinnitus manifested three to four years previously instead of during service. Accordingly, the opinion is assigned no probative weight. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE After considering the Veteran's conceded noise exposure during service and his competent and credible reports of tinnitus continuing since that time, the Board finds that the Veteran's tinnitus was incurred during service. Thus, service connection is warranted, and the claim is granted. E. I. VELEZ Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board J. Sandler, 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.