A cochlear implant audiologist is a licensed audiologist whose caseload centers on implantable hearing devices: candidacy evaluation, device programming and monitoring.
The American Academy of Audiology's 2023 scope of practice places audiologists on the implant team and makes them principally responsible for device programming.
This page covers cochlear implant audiology as a career — the work, the settings, the training path and the clinical and manufacturer routes.
What is a cochlear implant audiologist?
The role is a focus within audiology, not a separate profession.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics defines audiologists as professionals who diagnose, manage and treat patients who have hearing, balance or related problems, and O*NET lists programming and monitoring cochlear implants among the tasks reported for the occupation.
The specialty is organized around implantable hearing devices.
The device categories in Medicare's coverage regulation are cochlear implants, auditory brainstem implants and osseointegrated implants, and AAA's scope describes audiologists working with cochlear, middle ear, fully implantable and osseointegrated devices as members of the implant team.
Licensing follows the profession rather than the specialty: BLS notes that all states require audiologists to be licensed.
The closest thing to a national implant credential, the American Board of Audiology's Cochlear Implant Specialty Certification (CISC), had its exam discontinued in 2018, and the ABA offers reinstatement of lapsed credentials only.
Everything else about the career follows from where implant care happens and who does which part.
The sections below cover the work itself, the settings, the route in, and the two employer types: clinical programs and manufacturers.
What does cochlear implant audiology involve? Candidacy, programming and monitoring
The American Academy of Audiology's 2023 Scope of Practice states that audiologists are members of the implant team, determine audiologic candidacy, provide input on device selection, and are principally responsible for device programming.
Those four clauses are close to a job description for this specialty.
Candidacy.
Determining audiologic candidacy is the evaluation half of the role, and AAA's scope assigns it to the audiologist within the implant team.
The work draws on diagnostic audiology, and AAA lists it for audiologists as implant-team members, alongside their input on device selection.
Programming and monitoring.
AAA's scope puts device programming principally with the audiologist, and O*NET pairs programming with monitoring cochlear implants in its task list for the occupation.
Coverage.
Implant services follow different coverage rules from hearing aids.
Medicare's exclusion at 42 CFR 411.15(d) removes hearing aids, and examinations for prescribing, fitting or changing them, from coverage.
The same provision states that cochlear implants, auditory brainstem implants and osseointegrated implants are not subject to that exclusion.
How any specific service is billed stays between the practice, CMS and its MAC.
Where do cochlear implant audiologists work?
AAA's scope frames implant care as team care, so cochlear implant audiology is practiced where implant teams operate.
For the profession as a whole, BLS's largest employers of audiologists in 2025 were offices of physicians (26%), offices of physical, occupational and speech therapists, and audiologists (26%), hospitals (16%) and educational services (10%).
Those are profession-wide figures; our research found no comparable breakdown for implant programs specifically.
ASHA's scope describes the profession as serving people of all ages, so implant caseloads can be pediatric, adult or mixed.
Manufacturers are the second employer group, covered in the clinical-versus-industry section below.
Our research did not verify how implant roles are distributed across employers or across the country, so current postings are the practical guide to the employer mix and the geography.
How do you become a cochlear implant audiologist?
The route in is the audiology route.
A bachelor's degree is the entry requirement for an AuD program, and BLS says the Doctor of Audiology typically takes 4 years to complete.
Licensure comes from the state: BLS notes all states require audiologists to be licensed, with requirements set state by state.
Credentials stack on top of the license.
ASHA's CCC-A certificate requires, under ASHA's 2020 standards, a doctoral degree in audiology from a CAA-accredited program, a program in CAA candidacy, or an equivalent qualification.
The American Board of Audiology discontinued its Cochlear Implant Specialty Certification (CISC) exam in 2018 and offers reinstatement of lapsed credentials only; the specialty certifications it currently lists are in pediatric audiology (PASC) and vestibular audiology (VASC).
Programming is device-specific work — AAA's scope puts device programming principally with the audiologist — so when you evaluate programs, ask directly how they train audiologists who are new to implants and what a new hire's caseload looks like at the start.
Confirm the requirements before you plan around them
Clinical careers vs manufacturer careers in cochlear implants
The clinical route is the implant-team role described above: candidacy determinations, device-selection input, programming and monitoring, practiced inside a program that performs implant care.
AAA's 2023 scope is the anchor document for that role, and the employer is the implant program itself.
The industry route sits with the device makers.
Sonova lists Advanced Bionics, a cochlear implant technology company, among its brands alongside Phonak and Unitron — so cochlear implants and hearing care sit together in one corporate group's brand list.
Our research verified Advanced Bionics as a cochlear implant brand within Sonova, but it did not confirm the cochlear implant manufacturers' US field roles or job titles.
There is no verified, single description of an industry-side implant role: read each manufacturer's careers pages and current postings for what the work involves, and treat a posting's own requirement list as the source of truth.
The clinical route rests on the audiology foundation described above — the AuD and the state license.
Our research did not confirm what manufacturers require of industry-side hires, so read each posting's requirements rather than assuming they match the clinical route.
Find cochlear implant audiologist jobs
Postings for this specialty combine the profession's baseline with program-specific requirements.
The license is the constant — all states require audiologists to be licensed — while the implant side of a posting, such as device platforms and candidacy or programming experience, is specific to each employer.
For the profession as a whole, BLS's Employment Projections program projects 11% employment growth for audiologists from 2025 to 2035, growth BLS characterizes as much faster than average.
Those figures cover audiologists overall; our sources carry no separate implant-specialty series.
On pay, BLS's OEWS for May 2025 puts the median annual wage for audiologists at $95,780.
That is the occupation-wide median — our research has no implant-specific wage figure — so treat a cochlear-implant-specific pay claim with care and read the posting.
Browse cochlear implant audiologist jobs to see current openings, and check back as more programs and groups list roles.
Career information, not licensing, medical, billing or legal advice — confirm license requirements with your state audiology board, credential questions with the bodies named above, and coverage questions with CMS or your MAC.