Citation Nr: 21025520 Decision Date: 04/28/21 Archive Date: 04/28/21 DOCKET NO. 17-22 191 DATE: April 28, 2021 ORDER Service connection for bilateral hearing loss is granted. Service connection for tinnitus is granted. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. The Veteran’s bilateral hearing loss had its onset in service. 2. The Veteran’s tinnitus had its onset in service. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1. The criteria for service connection for bilateral hearing loss have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.159, 3.303. 2. The criteria for service connection for tinnitus have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131, 5107; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.159, 3.303. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS The Veteran served on active duty in the United States Navy from September 1983 to March 1991. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from an August 2016 rating decision from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). The Veteran presented sworn testimony at a hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge in November 2020. Service Connection 1. Service connection for bilateral hearing loss. 2. Service connection for tinnitus. The Veteran contends that his bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus are due to loud noise exposure in service and that the disabilities have been recurrent since that time. Service connection may be granted for a disability resulting in a disease or injury that is incurred in or aggravated by active military service. 38 U.S.C. § 1110; 38 U.S.C. § 3.303. To establish service connection for the claimed disorder, the following criteria must be met: (1) evidence of a current disability; (2) evidence of an in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) evidence of a nexus between the claimed in-service disease or injury and current disability. See 38 C.F.R. § 3.303; see also Davidson v. Shinseki, 581 F.3d 1313, 1316 (Fed. Cir. 2009); Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1166-67 (Fed. Cir. 2004); Hickson v. West, 12 Vet. App. 247, 253 (1999). When a disability is initially diagnosed after separation from service and not within any applicable presumptive period, service connection may be granted if all the evidence establishes that it was incurred in service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(d). Certain chronic diseases, like tinnitus, will be presumed related to service if they were noted as chronic in service; or, if they manifested to a compensable degree within a presumptive period following separation from service; or, if continuity of the same symptomatology has existed since service, with no intervening cause. 38 U.S.C. § § 1101, 1112, 1113, 1137; Walker v. Shinseki, 708 F.3d 1331, 1338 (Fed. Cir. 2012); Fountain v. McDonald, 27 Vet. App. 258 (2015); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303(b), 3.307, 3.309(a). All three elements of service connection are established by the competent and credible lay and medical evidence of record. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303; Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1166-67 (Fed. Cir. 2004). The Veteran has a diagnosis of bilateral hearing loss, reports ongoing tinnitus and suffered acoustic trauma when exposed to extreme loud noise in service. See Hearing Testimony, November 2020; see also Audiologic Report, April 2017. Thus, the first two criteria have been met. Further, the competent and credible evidence of record shows that his current bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus began during service and have been recurrent since that time. The Veteran reported that he first noticed hearing loss and tinnitus during service and that it has continued since that time. See Hearing Testimony, November 2020; see also Audiologic Report, April 2017. The Veteran is competent to report the onset and continuation of his hearing loss and tinnitus symptoms and the Board finds his testimony credible. See Charles v. Principi, 16 Vet. App. 370, 374 (2002); see also Layno v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 465 (1994); Jandreau v. Nicholson, 492 F.3d 1372 (Fed. Cir. 2007). (Continued on the next page)   The Board acknowledges that the July 2016 VA examiner opined that the Veteran’s current bilateral hearing loss was not related to service; however, because the evidence shows that the Veteran’s bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus had their onset in service, service connection is warranted. STEVEN D. REISS Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board Sara Leigh, Attorney Advisor 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.