Citation Nr: 21022352
Decision Date: 04/15/21	Archive Date: 04/15/21

DOCKET NO. 19-01 804
DATE: April 15, 2021

REMANDED

Entitlement to service connection for bilateral hearing loss is remanded. 

REASONS FOR REMAND

The Veteran served on active duty from January 1960 to January 1964.

This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from an April 2018 rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). 

A Board hearing in January 2020 was held with the undersigned Veterans Law Judge. A transcript has been associated with the claims file.

An April 2020 Board decision denied the above claim. In December 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court) granted the parties Joint Motion for Partial Remand (JMPR) vacating the denial of service connection for bilateral hearing loss. The parties agreed that the Board relied on an inadequate VA audiological examination and medical opinion provided in August 2018 when denying the claim. Specifically, the examiner was noted to have provided conflicting findings with respect with respect to in-service noise exposure. Thus, a remand is necessary to obtain another examination. 

 

The matter is REMANDED for the following action:

Schedule the Veteran for a VA audiological examination. A copy of this REMAND must be provided to and reviewed by the examiner along with the claims file. The examiner is asked to provide a response as to whether it is it at least likely as not (a 50 percent probability or greater) that the Veteran’s current hearing loss disability: 

a.	had its initial onset in service or within a year of service discharge, 

b.	is etiologically related to active service. The examiner is advised that the Veteran had exposure to noise during service.

Please review the service treatment records (STRs) that show no valid pre-servicing testing as only whisper tests were provided, which are not reliable indicators of hearing loss. The lack of an in-service diagnosis or notation at separation does not necessarily preclude service connection. Absence of evidence cannot be used as negative evidence unless it is the type of evidence that one would reasonably expect to be in the record. 

 

 

MICHAEL A. HERMAN

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans’ Appeals

Attorney for the Board	S. Smith, 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 This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.