Citation Nr: 21074231 Decision Date: 12/14/21 Archive Date: 12/14/21 DOCKET NO. 17-53 061 DATE: December 14, 2021 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for tinnitus is granted. FINDING OF FACT Resolving all reasonable doubt in the Veteran's favor, the evidence is at least in equipoise that his tinnitus is etiologically related to military noise exposure. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for entitlement to service connection for tinnitus have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1101, 1112, 1113, 1131, 1137, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303, 3.307, 3.309. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty in the United States Navy from April 1980 to May 1984. This matter is before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a January 2015 rating decision issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office. Service Connection Service connection may be granted for a disability resulting from disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by service. 38 U.S.C. § 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(a). Generally, service connection requires: (1) the existence of a present disability; (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a causal relationship between the present disability and the disease or injury incurred or aggravated during service. See Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1166-67 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Service connection may also be granted for any disease diagnosed after discharge when the evidence establishes that the disease was incurred in service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(d). For certain chronic disorders, to include tinnitus, service connection may be granted if the disease becomes manifest to a compensable degree within one year following separation from service. See 38 U.S.C. §§ 1101, 1112, 1113, 1137; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307, 3.309. In such cases, the disease is presumed under the law to have had its onset in service even if there is no evidence of such disease during service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.307(a); see Walker v. Shinseki, 708 F.3d 1331 (Fed. Cir. 2013). Alternatively, when a disease at 38 C.F.R. § 3.309(a) is not shown to be chronic during service or the one-year presumptive period, service connection may also be established by showing continuity of symptomatology after service. See 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(b). When all the evidence is assembled, VA is responsible for determining whether the evidence supports the claim or is in relative equipoise, with the claimant prevailing in either event, or whether a preponderance of the evidence is against the claim, in which case the claim is denied. 38 U.S.C. § 5107 (b); 38 C.F.R. § 3.102; Gilbert v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 49, 53-56 (1990). When there is an approximate balance of positive and negative evidence regarding any issue material to the determination, the benefit of the doubt is afforded to the claimant. Gilbert, 1 Vet. App. at 53. Entitlement to service connection for tinnitus The Veteran seeks entitlement to service connection for tinnitus, which he contends was incurred in service due to military noise exposure. The Veteran specifically asserts that he has experienced ringing in his ears ever since service when he was exposed to constant acoustic trauma from his duties as a gunner's mate and working close to the flight deck without adequate hearing protection. The Veteran's DD-214 shows that his military occupational specialty (MOS) was gunner's mate, an MOS that is highly-probable for noise exposure. As such, VA has conceded exposure to hazardous military noise during service. The Board notes that the Veteran is competent to describe the nature and extent of his in-service noise exposure. See C.F.R. § 3.159(a)(2); Washington v. Nicholson, 19 Vet. App. 362, 368 (2005); Layno v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 465, 469-70 (1994). Moreover, the Board notes that tinnitus is a type of disability that may be established on the basis of lay evidence alone. Charles v. Principi, 16 Vet. App. 370 (2002). Therefore, there is no dispute that the Veteran has a current diagnosis of tinnitus. The question remaining before the Board is whether the Veteran's current tinnitus is etiologically related to his conceded in-service noise exposure. Based on a careful review of the subjective and clinical evidence of record, the Board resolves all reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran and finds that service connection for tinnitus is warranted. The Veteran underwent a VA examination in January 2015. On the examination report, the VA examiner noted that the Veteran first noticed tinnitus around 2003 or 2004. Finding that this onset of tinnitus is "too far long removed from the military to be related," the examiner opined that tinnitus is less likely not than caused by or the result of military noise exposure. In a March 2015 statement, the Veteran disputed that he told the VA examiner he first noticed tinnitus in 2003 or 2004 at the VA examination. Instead, the Veteran explained that he told the VA examiner he had experienced tinnitus ever since service, but that his symptoms got noticeably worse over a short period of time around 2003 when he had an onset of hearing loss. He further stated that "I am unsure if the examiner heard me make the comments about having tinnitus since service, because we were conversing through the speaker system between the hearing booth and the location of the examiner outside the booth." Based on the above, the Board does not find the January 2015 VA examination and negative etiology opinion to be probative because the VA examiner did not consider the Veteran's competent lay statements as to the in-service onset and continuity of symptoms of tinnitus. While the Board acknowledges that the record does not contain an adequate medical opinion regarding the etiology of the Veteran's tinnitus, the Board finds that there is sufficient evidence in the record to decide the claim. In the absence of an adequate medical opinion to the contrary, the Board accepts the Veteran's competent statements that he has experienced continuous symptoms of tinnitus ever since military service. The Board finds these statements to be consistent and credible. See Layno, 6 Vet. App at 469-70. (Continued on next page) Based on the Veteran's competent and credible statements regarding the onset and continuity of his tinnitus symptoms, the Board finds that the evidence is at least in equipoise that his current tinnitus had its onset during active service due to excessive military noise exposure. Accordingly, resolving all reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran, service connection for tinnitus is granted. See 38 U.S.C. § 5107(b); 38 C.F.R. § 3.102; Gilbert, 1 Vet. App. at 53. J. NICHOLS Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board Melissa Barbee, 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.