Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · Holland code SCI

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.

Also called: Hearing Aid Specialist, Hearing Instrument Dispenser, Hearing Instrument Specialist (HIS), Hearing Specialist, Audioprosthologist, Hearing Aid Consultant, Hearing Care Practitioner, Hearing Care Specialist.

O*NET 29-2092.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $65,160; Middle half earn $48,390 to $80,010. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Doctoral Degree; 44% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 3 of 5; Medium preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Train clients to use hearing aids or other augmentative communication devices.
Counsel patients and families on communication strategies and the effects of hearing loss.
Select and administer tests to evaluate hearing or related disabilities.
Administer basic hearing tests including air conduction, bone conduction, or speech audiometry tests.
Maintain or repair hearing aids or other communication devices.
Perform basic screening procedures, such as pure tone screening, otoacoustic screening, immittance screening, and screening of ear canal status using otoscope.
Create or modify impressions for earmolds and hearing aid shells.
Assist audiologists in performing aural procedures, such as real ear measurements, speech audiometry, auditory brainstem responses, electronystagmography, and cochlear implant mapping.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Active Listening3.9 / 5
Speaking3.4 / 5
Reading Comprehension3.3 / 5
Writing3.1 / 5
Critical Thinking3.1 / 5
Active Learning3.1 / 5

Knowledge areas

Customer and Personal Service4.8 / 5
Sales and Marketing4.2 / 5
Therapy and Counseling4.2 / 5
Medicine and Dentistry4.1 / 5
Computers and Electronics4.0 / 5
Administrative4.0 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic48
Investigative56
Artistic12
Social59
Enterprising12
Conventional57

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

audiology technician · DE Hörgeräteakustiker/Hörgeräteakustikerin · FR audioprothésiste

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Medical and dental technicians (3213)40,000 employed
Other health professionals n.e.c. (2259)111,700 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Technicians and associate professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Technicians and associate professionals, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€50,992
Austria	€46,986
Germany	€44,473
Netherlands	€42,448
Ireland	€41,613
Sweden	€41,155
Italy	€34,882
France	€34,816
Spain	€29,757
Portugal	€18,080
Poland	€12,108

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the middle third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +0.56. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (29-2092).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

Take the career interests test