Citation Nr: 21022236 Decision Date: 04/15/21 Archive Date: 04/15/21 DOCKET NO. 17-00 259 DATE: April 15, 2021 ORDER The appeal seeking a compensable rating for pseudofolliculitis barbae has been withdrawn. Service connection for bilateral hearing loss is granted. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. At a January 2021 hearing, the Veteran withdrew the following issue from consideration: a compensable rating for pseudofolliculitis barbae. 2. Resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran’s favor, his bilateral hearing loss is at least as likely as not related to in-service noise exposure. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1. The criteria for withdrawal of the appeal seeking a compensable rating for pseudofolliculitis barbae are met. 38 U.S.C. § 7105; 38 C.F.R. § 19.55. 2. The criteria for service connection for bilateral hearing loss are met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1133, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.302, 3.303, 3.307, 3.309. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS The Veteran served honorably on active duty in the United States Navy from October 2001 to November 2005. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from an October 2013 rating decision issued by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). The Veteran attended a virtual hearing before the undersigned in January 2021. Pseudofolliculitis Barbae Prior to the promulgation of a decision in this case, at his January 2021 hearing the Veteran indicated his intent to withdraw the following issue from consideration by the Board: compensable rating for pseudofolliculitis barbae. Therefore, a “case or controversy” involving a pending adverse determination that the Veteran has taken exception to does not currently exist with respect to this issue. See Shoen v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 456, 457 (1994). Accordingly, the Board does not have jurisdiction to review the appeal for this claim, and it is dismissed. Service Connection Bilateral Hearing Loss Service connection may be granted for a disability resulting from disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by active service. 38 U.S.C. § 1110; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. To establish service connection for a disability, a Veteran must show: (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. Davidson v. Shinseki, 581 F.3d 1313 (Fed. Cir. 2009). For VA purposes, impaired hearing is considered disabling when the auditory threshold in any of the frequencies 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000 Hertz is 40 decibels or greater; or when the auditory thresholds for at least three of the frequencies 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, or 4000 Hertz are 26 decibels or greater; or, when speech recognition scores using the Maryland CNC Test are less than 94 percent. 38 C.F.R. § 3.385. Certain chronic diseases will be presumed related to service if they were shown as chronic in service; or, if they manifested to a compensable degree within a presumptive period following separation from service; or, if they were noted in service with continuity of symptomatology since service that is attributable to the chronic disease. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1101, 1112, 1113, 1137; Walker v. Shinseki, 708 F.3d 1331, 1338 (Fed. Cir. 2013); Fountain v. McDonald, 27 Vet. App. 258 (2015); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303, 3.307, 3.309. The Veteran contends that his hearing loss is due to in-service noise exposure. For the following reasons, the Board agrees. The Veteran has submitted a January 2021 examination that shows he has hearing loss for VA purposes. The Veteran testified that he worked on the flight deck during service, and his service treatment records corroborate this. The Board finds this to satisfy the first two elements for service connection. Regarding the third element, medical nexus, the evidence consists of an October 2013 VA examination and the Veteran’s testimony. The examiner was unable to test the Veteran’s hearing. However, they provided a rationale on whether hearing loss, if found, is related to military service. The examiner found that despite the Veteran having no evidence of hearing loss during service, they could not conclusively rule out hearing loss in light of the Veteran’s military occupational specialty. The examiner did not provide an explanation as to why they were unable to provide audiometric findings for the Veteran’s hearing. As such, the Board finds the examination to be inadequate and affords it little probative weight. In contrast, the Veteran has provided competent and credible testimony regarding the continuity of his hearing loss. At his January 2021 hearing, the Veteran testified that he started noticing problems with his hearing during service and that he was taken off the flight deck because of his hearing. The Board finds the evidence to be in relative equipoise. Accordingly, service connection for bilateral hearing loss based on continuity of symptomatology is granted. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(b). JOHN Z. JONES Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board Michael Chandeck, 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.