rating decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in Manila, Republic of the Philippines, which granted service connection for hearing loss, effective February 6, 2013.  

In a second June 2014 rating decision, the RO changed the effective date to February 6, 2014.  In an August 2016 RO rating decision the Veteran's current effective date for service-connected bilateral hearing loss was established as October 15, 2013 and the disability rating was increased from 50 to 70 percent, effective September 3, 2014.  In light of these subsequent developments, the claims have been recharacterized as shown above.  Furthermore, as increased awards during the pendency of an appeal do not represent total grants of benefits, the Veteran's claim for a higher disability rating remains2013 the VA received an informal claim for service connection for bilateral hearing loss.  The Veteran was notified, by letter dated October 28, 2013, that he was required to file a formal claim for service connection.  VA received a formal claim for bilateral hearing loss service connection on February 6, 2014.  In a June 2014 the RO issued a rating decision awarding service connection for bilateral hearing loss and assigning an effective date of February 6, 2013.  In a second June 2014 decision, the RO changed the effective date to February 6, 2014.  A third rating decision was issued by the RO in August 2016 which, based on clear and unmistakable error in the second June 2014 rating decision, assigned an effective date