BVA9504273 DOCKET NO. 93-28 829 ) DATE ) ) On appeal from the decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Atlanta, Georgia THE ISSUE Entitlement to service connection for hearing loss. REPRESENTATION Appellant represented by: Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States WITNESS AT HEARING ON APPEAL Appellant ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD Alberto H. Zapata, Associate Counsel INTRODUCTION The veteran served on active duty from March 1948 to May 1970. This matter comes to the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a rating decision of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Atlanta, Georgia. REMAND The veteran is seeking service connection for hearing loss and contends that his claimed disability stems from his years of service as a rifle instructor and from his exposure to artillery in Vietnam and Korea. The veteran asserts that those in-service experiences resulted in gradual sensorineural hearing loss. While the medical evidence of record documents significant post- service hearing loss, especially at the higher frequencies, no medical opinion linking current hearing loss to service is of record. The Board notes that in the VA Summary Report of Examination for Organic Hearing Loss from April 1992, the audiologist recommended that the veteran be scheduled for an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) examination 1 month hence. The Board also notes that the veteran has indicated that his compensation examination for hearing loss was completed in July 1992. The report of that examination is not of record. The April 1992 report also refers to 2 examinations of the veteran performed at the VA Medical Center 1 year previously: a hearing test from June 1991 and an Auditory Brain Response test from July 1991. Medical reports from those 2 examinations are similarly not of record. The Board also notes that the veteran's service personnel records have not been obtained. The service medical records document several episodes of ear infection and inflammation, and the veteran reported at the April 1992 VA examination that he had been having recurrent ear infections since 1948. The Board notes that the RO has not adjudicated the issue of entitlement to service connection for ear disability other than hearing loss. In light of these circumstances, the Board is of the opinion that further RO actions are warranted. The Board emphasizes that in the assessment of claims for hearing loss, absence of in-service evidence of hearing loss does not preclude service connection for current hearing impairment when there is evidence that current hearing loss may be causally related to service. Hensley v. Brown, 5 Vet.App. 155, 160 (1993). Accordingly, the case is REMANDED to the RO for the following actions: 1. The RO should obtain and associate with the claims file copies of all records pertaining to VA evaluation of the veteran's hearing loss, especially those records referenced in the April 1992 Hearing Loss Report which is of record and the report of a VA examination which was reportedly performed in July 1992. The RO should also obtain and associate with the claims file any more recent VA records pertaining to treatment of the veteran's hearing loss which are not of record. 2. The RO should request the veteran to provide the names, addresses and approximate dates of treatment or evaluation for all health care providers who have treated or evaluated him for hearing loss or any other ear problem since his discharge from service. When the requested information and any necessary authorization have been received, the RO should attempt to obtain copies of all pertinent records which are not already of record. 3. The veteran's service personnel records or copies thereof should be obtained. 4. Then, the RO should arrange for a VA examination of the veteran by a board certified otolaryngologist, if available, to determine the nature and extent of the veteran's hearing loss and any other ear disorders present. The otolaryngologist should be requested to review the entire claims file and provide an opinion, with complete rationale, as to whether it is at least as likely as not that any current hearing loss or other ear disorder present is etiologically related to service ear infections or service noise exposure. All indicated studies should be performed. 5. Thereafter, the RO should undertake any other indicated development, readjudicate the claim of entitlement to service connection for hearing loss and adjudicate the issue of entitlement to service connection for ear disability other than hearing loss. If the benefits sought on appeal are not granted to the veteran's satisfaction or if a timely notice of disagreement is received with respect to any other matter, including the disposition of the issue of service connection for ear disability other than hearing loss, the veteran and his representative should be provided a Supplemental Statement of the Case on all issues in appellate status and afforded a reasonable opportunity to respond. Thereafter, the case should be returned to the Board for further appellate action, if otherwise in order. No action is required of the veteran unless he is otherwise notified by the RO. By this remand the Board intimates no opinion as to the final decision warranted. SHANE A. DURKIN Member, Board of Veterans' Appeals The Board of Veterans' Appeals Administrative Procedures Improvement Act, Pub. L. No. 103-271, § 6, 108 Stat. 740, ___ (1994), permits a proceeding instituted before the Board to be assigned to an individual member of the Board for a determination. This proceeding has been assigned to an individual member of the Board. Under 38 U.S.C.A. § 7252 (West 1991), only a decision of the Board of Veterans' Appeals is appealable to the United States Court of Veterans Appeals. This remand is in the nature of a preliminary order and does not constitute a decision of the Board on the merits of your appeal. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1100(b) (1994).