Citation Nr: 21006553
Decision Date: 02/04/21	Archive Date: 02/04/21

DOCKET NO. 15-00 136A
DATE: February 4, 2021

REMANDED

Entitlement to service connection for a bilateral hearing loss disability is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran had active service from September 1988 to May 1989 and from October 1989 to June 1992.

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a December 2007 rating decision issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).

Entitlement to service connection for a bilateral hearing loss disability is remanded.

In October 2020, the Board remanded the matter to obtain an addendum opinion from the October 2019 examiner regarding the etiology of the Veteran’s bilateral hearing loss disability.  The October 2019 examiner opined that the Veteran’s bilateral hearing loss disability was less likely than not related to service.  The examiner noted that the Veteran had conceded in-service noise exposure while on the flight line.  To summarize the examiner’s reasoning, the Veteran’s hearing was not related to service because he had normal hearing tests during service and for many years post service.  However, service connection for a bilateral hearing loss disability is available despite no in-service hearing loss. See Ledford v. Derwinski, 3 Vet. App. 87, 89 (1992)(absence of in-service hearing loss is not fatal to service connection claim); see also Hensley v. Brown, 5 Vet. App. 155, 159 (1993).  In an October 2020 addendum the same examiner provided an almost identical medical opinion which was as deficient as the first opinion.  Therefore, the Board finds that a remand is necessary to obtain an addendum opinion from a different audiologist regarding the Veteran’s bilateral hearing loss disability.

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

Obtain a medical opinion (from an audiologist other than the October 2019 and October 2020 VA examiner) regarding the etiology of the Veteran’s bilateral hearing loss disability.  The Veteran’s electronic claims folder, including a copy of this remand, must be available to the examiner for review.  The clinician is requested to offer an opinion as the following:

Whether it is at least as likely as not (50 percent probability or greater) that the Veteran’s bilateral hearing loss disability was incurred in or is otherwise related to service, including due to conceded in-service noise exposure on the flight line.

In rendering the above opinion, the examiner is advised that the absence of in-service evidence of a hearing disability during service is not always fatal to a service connection claim. See Ledford v. Derwinski, 3 Vet. App. 87, 89 (1992). Evidence of a current hearing loss disability and a medically sound basis for attributing that disability to service may serve as a basis for a grant of service connection for hearing loss where there is credible evidence of acoustic trauma due to significant noise exposure in service, post-service audiometric findings meeting the regulatory requirements for hearing loss disability for VA purposes, and a medically sound basis upon which to attribute the post-service findings to the injury in service. See Hensley v. Brown, 5 Vet. App. 155, 159 (1993).

A complete rationale, with citation to appropriate medical principles, is requested.

 

 

Michael A. Pappas

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	Baskerville, LaRita

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.