Citation Nr: 21011766 Decision Date: 03/02/21 Archive Date: 03/02/21 DOCKET NO. 17-19 537 DATE: March 2, 2021 THE ISSUE Entitlement to service connection for a bilateral hearing loss disability. REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for a bilateral hearing loss disability is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from June 1989 to March 1993, April 2009 to July 2009, and August 2009 to June 2010. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a November 2015 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in San Diego, California. In September 2020, the Veteran testified before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge (VLJ) at a videoconference hearing sitting in Los Angeles, California. A transcript of the hearing is of record. Entitlement to service connection for a bilateral hearing loss disability is remanded. The Veteran contends that he currently has significant bilateral hearing loss, and that it is a result of in-service acoustic trauma. He was last afforded a VA audiological examination in August 2015, in which he was not found to have hearing loss for VA purposes. At the September 2020 Board hearing, the Veteran testified that his hearing had worsened since his last examination and that his tinnitus caused or aggravated his hearing loss. As such, the Veteran should be afforded another VA audiological examination. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Obtain any outstanding and relevant VA and/or private treatment records. Should such exist, associate the records with the Veteran's electronic claims file. 2. After completion of the first directive, schedule the Veteran for a VA examination with an appropriate medical professional to determine the nature and etiology of his claimed bilateral hearing loss disability. The claims file must be made available to and reviewed by the examiner. A note that it was reviewed should be included in the report. After reviewing the claims file and examining the Veteran, the examiner should answer the following questions: Is it at least as likely as not (probability of fifty percent or greater) that the Veteran has a bilateral hearing loss disability that is related to active duty service, or is otherwise related to any in-service disease, event, or injury? Is it at least as likely as not (probability of fifty percent or greater) that the Veteran has a bilateral hearing loss disability that is secondary to or aggravated by his service-connected tinnitus? The examiner is to carefully consider the hearing testimony with the undersigned Veterans Law Judge, all lay statements of record, VA treatment records, and private treatment records and evaluations. The examiner should view the Veteran as a reliable historian as to his service and his reports of his activities and symptoms in and since service. See Jandreau v. Nicholson, 492 F.3d 1372, 1377 (Fed. Cir. 2007). 3. Thereafter, readjudicate the issue on appeal. If the determination remains unfavorable to the Veteran, he and his representative should be furnished a supplemental statement of the case (SSOC) which addresses all evidence associated with the claims file since the last statement of the case. The Veteran and his representative should be afforded the applicable time period to respond. Michael A. Pappas Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board R. E. Geary, 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.