Hearing Aid Specialists
Select and fit hearing aids for customers. Administer and interpret tests of hearing. Assess hearing instrument efficacy. Take ear impressions and prepare, design, and modify ear molds.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Service Orientation
- Instructing
- Speaking
- Reading Comprehension
- Social Perceptiveness
- Writing
- Critical Thinking
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- Sales and Marketing
- Therapy and Counseling
- Medicine and Dentistry
- Computers and Electronics
- Administrative
- English Language
- Administration and Management
What the work involves
- Select and administer tests to evaluate hearing or related disabilities.
- Administer basic hearing tests including air conduction, bone conduction, or speech audiometry tests.
- Train clients to use hearing aids or other augmentative communication devices.
- Create or modify impressions for earmolds and hearing aid shells.
- Maintain or repair hearing aids or other communication devices.
- Demonstrate assistive listening devices (ALDs) to clients.
- Perform basic screening procedures, such as pure tone screening, otoacoustic screening, immittance screening, and screening of ear canal status using otoscope.
- Read current literature, talk with colleagues, and participate in professional organizations or conferences to keep abreast of developments in audiology.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Doctoral Degree (44% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (39.9%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 3 months, up to and including 6 months (38%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 3: Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Hearing Aid Specialists is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 75% of occupations compared | 68% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 99% of occupations compared | 90% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Low | Lower on teamwork than 73% of occupations compared | 53% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very high | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 83% of occupations compared | 54% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Moderate | Higher on time pressure than 57% of occupations compared | 67% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | High | Higher on conflict situations than 67% of occupations compared | 30% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | High | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 72% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Consequence of error | Low | Lower on consequence of error than 78% of occupations compared | 63% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: moderate
- Conflict situations: high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
- Consequence of error: low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 31.89%
- Constant contact with others: 68.11%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2020
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 0.22%
- Very important: 9.93%
- Extremely important: 89.84%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2020
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 13.58%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 13.58%
- Very important: 20.28%
- Extremely important: 52.56%
n = 16, Incumbent 08/2020
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 0.05%
- Some freedom: 45.83%
- A lot of freedom: 54.12%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2020
Time pressure
- Never: 0.22%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0.78%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 17.88%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 66.81%
- Every day: 14.31%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2020
Conflict situations
- Never: 21.96%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 14.94%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 14.14%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 29.68%
- Every day: 19.28%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2020
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 12.92%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 10.86%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 25.95%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 40.92%
- Every day: 9.35%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2020
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 9.13%
- Fairly serious: 63.13%
- Serious: 9.81%
- Very serious: 17.78%
- Extremely serious: 0.16%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2020
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O*NET-SOC 29-2092.00 · SOC 29-2092 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8