Citation Nr: 21015798
Decision Date: 03/18/21	Archive Date: 03/18/21

DOCKET NO. 13-21 699
DATE: March 18, 2021

REMANDED

Entitlement to service connection for bilateral hearing loss, to include as secondary to service-connected tinnitus, is remanded.

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served on active duty from January 1968 to December 1970, with service in Vietnam. This matter is before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a February 2011 rating decision issued by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In July 2016 the Veteran testified at a hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge at the RO.

 

1. Entitlement to service connection for bilateral hearing loss, to include as secondary to service-connected tinnitus is remanded.

Although the Board regrets the additional delay, remand is required for an adequate addendum opinion. Where VA provides the veteran with an examination in a service connection claim, the examination must be adequate.  Barr v. Nicholson, 21 Vet. App. 303, 311 (2007). In a secondary service connection claim, a medical opinion that a disorder is not the result of an already service-connected disability does not address the issue of aggravation.  El-Amin v. Shinseki, 26 Vet. App. 136, 140-41 (2013).

In the December 2020 VA examination, the examiner provided a thorough and well-reasoned rationale for his direct service connection opinion. However, in a June 2018 written argument, the Veteran’s representative also claimed that the Veteran’s hearing loss may be secondary to his service-connected tinnitus. A secondary service connection opinion was provided in a December 2019 VA addendum. The examiner determined that the Veteran’s hearing loss was less likely than not caused or aggravated by his service-connected tinnitus as tinnitus does not physiologically cause hearing loss. The examiner stated that hearing loss and tinnitus may be related if they share an etiology but as the Veteran’s tinnitus was caused by military service and the Veteran’s hearing loss was not, the conditions were not related. The Board finds this opinion to be inadequate. The examiner stated that the Veteran’s hearing loss was not aggravated by his tinnitus but provided no rationale or medical evidence to support this contention. The examiner only provided support for his opinion that tinnitus did not cause hearing loss. As such, remand is required for an adequate VA examination opinion. 

The matters are REMANDED for the following action:

Obtain an addendum opinion regarding the etiology of hearing loss.  The entire claims file must be made available to and be reviewed by the examiner.  An explanation for all opinions expressed must be provided.  

The examiner must provide an opinion whether it is at least as likely as not (50 percent or greater probability) that the hearing loss is caused or aggravated by the service-connected tinnitus.  

 

 

K. MILLIKAN

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	Ashley Ki

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.