Citation Nr: 21025648 Decision Date: 04/28/21 Archive Date: 04/28/21 DOCKET NO. 17-33 157 DATE: April 28, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to service connection for right ear hearing loss is remanded. Entitlement to a compensable rating for left ear hearing loss is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty in the United States Army from April 2007 to August 2007, and from October 2009 to September 2010, including service in Iraq from December 2009 to August 2010. This matter comes to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a September 2014 rating decision from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). The Veteran testified at a videoconference hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge in January 2020. This matter was previously remanded by the Board in a May 2020 decision for further development. 1. Service connection for right ear hearing loss is remanded. 2. Entitlement to a compensable rating for left ear hearing loss is remanded. Subsequent to the May 2020 BVA remand, the Veteran was issued a Supplemental Statement of the Case in August 2020 in which the claims were denied. The Veteran elected to return the case to the Board for further appellate consideration. See September 2020 Correspondence. Regrettably, a remand is necessary for further evidentiary development of the Veteran’s service connection claim and increased rating claim on appeal. The Veteran asserts that service connection is warranted for his right ear hearing loss disability because it began in-service when he was involved in an IED explosion while serving overseas, in which he suffered multiple injuries to his back, head, and knees. See November 2014 Notice of Disagreement & June 2017 Form 9. The Veteran also asserts that his service-connected left ear hearing loss should be rated higher, as the disability has worsened, and he has “serious hearing issues in both ears.” Id. In the May 2020 Board decision, the Board noted that the Veteran is currently rated at 0 percent disabling, per the September 2014 rating decision. At his January 2020 Board hearing, the Veteran testified that he was given a positive nexus opinion as to etiology for his right ear hearing loss but did not meet the criteria in the exam; he stated the condition bilaterally has worsened since then. The Board remanded the claims to provide the Veteran an additional VA examination to ascertain the severity of his disability. See Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268 (1998). The Veteran was not provided a VA hearing loss examination subsequent to the May 2020 Board decision. In the August 2020 Supplemental Statement of the Case, the RO denied the claims based on the results of Veteran’s May 2014 VA Hearing Loss & Tinnitus Examination. Therefore, as the Veteran as not been afforded a contemporaneous VA examination to determine the etiology of his right ear hearing loss and to ascertain the severity of his left ear hearing loss, the Board finds that an examination is warranted before adjudication. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: 1. Contact the Veteran and request that he identify any and all outstanding VA and private treatment records related to his bilateral hearing loss condition. After obtaining the necessary authorization forms from the Veteran, obtain any pertinent records and associate them with claims file. 2. Notify the Veteran that he may submit lay statements from himself and from other individuals who have first-hand knowledge, and/or were contemporaneously informed of his in-service and post-service bilateral hearing loss problems. The Veteran should be provided an appropriate amount of time to submit this lay evidence. 3. Schedule the Veteran for a VA examination (or telehealth interview, review of the record, etc. if an in-person examination is not feasible) to determine the current nature and severity of his bilateral hearing loss. The examiner must conduct an audiological evaluation, including speech recognition testing, to determine whether the Veteran currently has a right ear hearing loss disability. The examiner must also provide an opinion concerning whether the Veteran’s right ear hearing loss is at least as likely as not related to an in-service injury, event, or disease, including his in-service noise exposure. STEVEN D. REISS Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board Zarar Ahmed, 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.