Citation Nr: 21012950
Decision Date: 03/08/21	Archive Date: 03/08/21

DOCKET NO. 16-13 547
DATE: March 8, 2021

REMANDED

Entitlement to a compensable rating for bilateral hearing loss, to include on an extra-schedular basis, is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served on active duty from January 1970 to January 1976. 

This appeal to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) is from an October 2015 rating decision of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).

Entitlement to a compensable rating for bilateral hearing loss, including on an extra-schedular basis, is remanded.

The Veteran contends that his bilateral hearing loss is severe enough to warrant a compensable rating, meaning a rating higher than 0 percent, including since his symptoms and consequent impairment are not contemplated by this schedular rating, in turn requiring extra-schedular consideration. 

The Veteran last had a VA examination for this disability in October 2015. And, while the mere passage of time since the last VA examination does not, in and of itself, warrant having him reexamined merely as matter of course, that examination – which was some 5½ years ago, simply is too old now to provide sufficient indication of the current severity of this disability. In this circumstance, another examination is needed reassessing the severity of this disability. See Green v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 121, 124 (1991); Caffrey v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 377 (1994); Palczewski v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 174 (2007).

Accordingly, this claim is REMANDED for the following action:

1. If there are outstanding records concerning this claim, obtain them and appropriately notify the Veteran if unable to obtain any additional records that he identifies with the required amount of information. 38 C.F.R. § 3.159(c) and (e).

2. After receiving all additional treatment or other relevant records, schedule the Veteran for an examination by an appropriate clinician reassessing the severity his service-connected bilateral hearing loss. The examiner must provide a full description of this disability and report all signs and symptoms attributable to it necessary for evaluating this disability under the applicable criteria.  

 

 

KEITH W. ALLEN

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	K. Pak

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 This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.