Citation Nr: 22014116 Decision Date: 03/11/22 Archive Date: 03/11/22 DOCKET NO. 17-28 552 DATE: March 11, 2022 REMANDED Entitlement to an initial compensable rating, and a rating in excess of 10 percent as of December 18, 2018, for bilateral hearing loss is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from December 1971 to December 1991. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from an August 2013 rating decision issued by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In October 2021, the Veteran testified at a Board hearing before the undersigned Acting Veterans Law Judge. A transcript of the hearing is associated with the record. The Board observes that, following the issuance of the January 2019 statement of the case, additional evidence was associated with the record. While the Veteran has not waived Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ) consideration of such evidence, his claim is being remanded such that the AOJ will have an opportunity to consider it in the readjudication of his claim. Thus, no prejudice results to him in the Board considering such evidence for the limited purpose of issuing a comprehensive and thorough remand. 1. Entitlement to an initial compensable rating, and a rating in excess of 10 percent as of December 18, 2018, for bilateral hearing loss is remanded. The Board finds that a remand is necessary in order to afford the Veteran a contemporaneous VA examination so as to determine the current nature and severity of his bilateral hearing loss. In this regard, the Board observes that he was last examined by VA for compensation purposes in December 2018. However, during his October 2021 Board hearing, the Veteran indicated his bilateral hearing loss had worsened in severity since such time. Specifically, he reported that since the last VA evaluation of his hearing acuity, he began having more trouble understanding other people and also began speaking very loudly since he cannot hear his own voice. He described becoming more dependent on reading lips to communicate, since he often cannot hear what other people say. Therefore, as the evidence suggests that the Veteran's bilateral hearing loss symptomatology may have increased in severity since the December 2018 VA examination, a remand is necessary in order to schedule him for an appropriate VA examination in order to assess the current nature and severity of such service-connected disability. See Snuffer v. Gober, 10 Vet. App. 400 (1997); Caffrey v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 377 (1994); VAOPGCPREC 11-95 (1995). The matters are REMANDED for the following action: Afford the Veteran a VA audiological examination to determine the current nature and severity of his service-connected bilateral hearing loss. The record, to include a copy of this Remand, must be made available to the examiner, and all indicated tests and studies should be accomplished. In this regard, the examiner should identify auditory thresholds, in decibels, at frequencies of 1000, 2000, 3000, and 4000 Hertz. A Maryland CNC Test should also be administered to determine speech recognition scores. The examiner is also requested to describe the functional effects of the Veteran's bilateral hearing loss. A rationale for any opinion offered should be provided. TRACIE N. WESNER Acting Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board M. Breckenridge 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.