A hearing conservationist performs the hearing tests OSHA requires employers to give workers exposed to loud noise.
The credential built for the job is CAOHC's Certified Occupational Hearing Conservationist (COHC), a 20-hour course and exam.
Technicians test under an audiologist, otolaryngologist or physician in industrial clinics, occupational health clinics and mobile testing vans — and interpreting the audiogram is not their job.
What is an occupational hearing conservationist?
A hearing conservationist is the technician-level member of an occupational hearing conservation program: the person who performs the hearing tests, keeps the equipment honest and manages the records OSHA's workplace noise standard generates.
The same work travels under other names in the sources that govern it — OSHA's rule and CAOHC's scope say "audiometric technician," and South Dakota's audiology law names certified industrial audiometric technicians and occupational hearing conservationists meeting CAOHC standards.
The credential CAOHC built for the role is the Certified Occupational Hearing Conservationist (COHC).
The job exists because of a rule: OSHA's occupational noise standard, 29 CFR 1910.95.
When employees' noise exposure equals or exceeds an 8-hour time-weighted average of 85 dBA — a 50% dose OSHA calls the action level — the employer must run a hearing conservation program.
For every employee at or above that level, OSHA requires a new audiogram at least annually after the baseline.
OSHA's rule lets audiometric tests be performed by a licensed or certified audiologist, an otolaryngologist or other physician, or by a technician who is CAOHC-certified or who has satisfactorily demonstrated competence in testing and audiometer use.
A technician who operates a microprocessor audiometer does not need to be certified, but any technician performing audiometric tests must be responsible to an audiologist, otolaryngologist or physician.
The boundaries are as much a part of the definition as the tasks.
CAOHC states that audiometric technicians are not allowed to interpret audiograms, diagnose ear disorders or refer to specialized care; routing an employee onward happens under the supervising professional's protocol.
Rules change — verify before you act
What does a hearing conservationist do on a testing day?
On a testing day the booth comes first.
Before each day's use, OSHA requires the audiometer's functional operation to be checked by testing a person with known, stable thresholds and listening for distortion; a deviation of 10 dB or more calls for an acoustic calibration.
CAOHC's scope puts the daily functional check of the audiometer and booth on the technician, along with coordinating annual calibrations and keeping equipment logs current.
The calibration ladder continues above the daily check.
OSHA requires an acoustic calibration check at least annually per Appendix E of the standard, deviations of 15 dB or more trigger exhaustive calibration, and exhaustive calibration is due at least every two years per ANSI S3.6-1969.
The tests themselves are pure-tone, air-conduction threshold tests at minimum at 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000 and 6000 Hz, each ear tested separately.
New exposed employees need a valid baseline audiogram within 6 months of first exposure at or above the action level — or within 1 year where mobile test vans are used, with hearing protectors required in the gap after 6 months.
Baselines must be preceded by at least 14 hours without workplace noise exposure, though hearing protectors can substitute for the quiet period.
After the baseline, OSHA requires a new audiogram at least annually for each employee exposed at or above the 85 dBA action level.
The comparison step is where the technician's limits show.
A technician may compare the annual audiogram to the baseline to check validity and for a standard threshold shift, but problem audiograms must be reviewed by an audiologist, otolaryngologist or physician.
OSHA defines that shift as an average change of 10 dB or more at 2000, 3000 and 4000 Hz in either ear relative to the baseline.
The employer may retest within 30 days and use the retest as the annual audiogram, and an employee with a shift must be informed in writing within 21 days of the determination.
CAOHC's scope puts identifying problem audiograms and ensuring that notification on the COHC.
A testing day can also include the program's non-testing pieces.
Hearing protectors must be available at no cost to employees exposed at or above the action level, with a choice from a variety of suitable types and a proper initial fitting.
The training program repeats annually and covers the effects of noise on hearing, the selection, fitting, use and care of hearing protectors, and the purpose and procedures of audiometric testing.
Records run on their own clock: noise exposure measurement records are kept for two years, and audiometric test records for the duration of the affected employee's employment.
Who do hearing conservationists work for: vans, in-house EHS and clinics
CAOHC's own description of where COHCs work covers fixed facilities — on-site industry clinics and occupational health clinics — and mobile hearing testing vans or trucks, plus government agencies and military installations.
The people in the seat are as varied as the settings: CAOHC lists audiologists, physicians, occupational health nurses, industrial hygienists, HR directors, safety officers or anyone interested among the people who hold the credential.
Mobile testing companies put the role on the road.
Examinetics, a mobile occupational health testing company, described 140+ mobile units and a network of more than 6,500 clinics on its website as of October 2026, and said it provides hearing tests and respirator fit testing to meet OSHA and MSHA requirements.
Its careers page titles traveling field staff Occupational Health Technicians or Occupational Health Specialists and describes a job that travels around the country.
In-house, the on-site industry clinic is the employer-side setting in CAOHC's list, and CAOHC counts safety officers and industrial hygienists among the people who hold the credential.
Occupational health clinics are the other fixed-facility setting in CAOHC's list.
Mining runs on a stricter rule than general industry.
Under MSHA's hearing conservation standard, 30 CFR Part 62, audiometric tests are done by a physician, an audiologist, or a qualified technician under their direction or supervision.
MSHA defines a qualified technician as one certified by CAOHC or another recognized organization offering equivalent certification.
Per CAOHC, a few states add their own layer: the Oregon and Washington labor departments require CAOHC certification for occupational hearing conservationists, and the Texas Department of Health requires registration of all audiometric technicians.
State rules beyond these examples vary, so confirm what your own state requires with its labor department.
How do you become a hearing conservationist?
The training path is a short one.
CAOHC sets no prerequisites for the certification course, and its own description of who becomes a COHC runs from audiologists and physicians to occupational health nurses, industrial hygienists, HR directors and safety officers.
With no prerequisites, the credential is open to people who want occupational health work without a clinical degree — and CAOHC counts nurses and safety officers among its holders.
Find a CAOHC-approved course
Course directors set their own registration and fees, so schedules and costs vary by course; CAOHC does not publish a single course price.Complete the 20-hour course and pass its exams
The course ends with a national standardized written exam plus practical exams on audiometric testing and hearing protection fitting. There are no prerequisites.Work under a professional supervisor
Once you test, you are responsible to an audiologist, otolaryngologist or physician. CAOHC certifies those supervisors separately with the CPS/A credential, valid five years.Plan for recertification from day one
Certification expires five years from the course completion date. A lapse without an extension requested at least 30 days before expiry means retaking the full 20-hour course.
Two details catch new technicians out.
The certification belongs to you, not to the employer that paid for the course — CAOHC says it cannot be used or shared by the employer or by other technicians.
And military hearing technicians have a defined shortcut: a holder of a CAOHC-approved DoD DOEHRS hearing technician certificate has already completed the practicum portion and needs only to pass the CAOHC exam, paying the exam fee, to earn the COHC.
CAOHC certification in one paragraph
The Certified Occupational Hearing Conservationist credential is CAOHC's certification for this work: a CAOHC-approved 20-hour course, an exam at the end, no prerequisites, and renewal every 5 years counted from the course completion date.
How much weight the credential carries depends on who regulates the worksite.
Federal OSHA names CAOHC certification in its rule as one of the ways a technician qualifies, alongside demonstrated competence.
MSHA goes further and requires a qualified technician to hold CAOHC certification or a recognized equivalent.
And per CAOHC, Oregon and Washington labor departments require the certification for occupational hearing conservationists while the Texas Department of Health requires audiometric technicians to register.
Hearing conservationist pay
Our research holds no exact BLS occupation for hearing conservationists — CAOHC hearing conservationists have no SOC of their own — so there is no wage series recorded for the role as titled.
The closest available group is occupational health and safety technicians (SOC 19-5012), which had a median annual wage of $61,560 and a mean of $68,120 nationally in May 2025, with 30,590 employed.
An occupation titled "occupational health and safety" spans safety work beyond hearing testing, so read the figures as nearby context rather than the role's own pay — and note that OEWS counts wage-and-salary workers only.
Hearing conservationist vs industrial audiologist
Both roles live inside the same OSHA framework, at different levels of responsibility.
The hearing conservationist is the technician: performs the tests, checks the audiometer, keeps the logs and flags the problem audiograms.
The audiologist is the licensed or certified professional the program answers to — OSHA names the audiologist among the professionals who may perform testing, requires that technicians be responsible to an audiologist, otolaryngologist or physician, and reserves the review of problem audiograms for that professional.
CAOHC formalizes the supervisor side with its Certified Professional Supervisor credential for the audiologist, otolaryngologist or physician who oversees the audiometric monitoring program.
The line is not always a wall: CAOHC counts audiologists and physicians among the people who hold the COHC, and an audiologist can supervise a program while technicians perform the testing.
What never crosses is interpretation.
Audiometric technicians do not interpret audiograms, diagnose ear disorders or refer to specialized care, and COHC training does not prepare a holder to perform bone-conduction or speech audiometry unless they are also a licensed audiologist or physician, or to run noise surveys unless they are specifically trained.
The industrial audiologist's side — program design, professional supervision and the clinical work behind them — is its own career, one built on professional licensure rather than a 20-hour course.
Find hearing conservation jobs
The employers CAOHC names — mobile testing companies, on-site industry clinics, occupational health clinics, government agencies and military installations — are the settings the role works in.
HearingHires lists hearing care jobs across roles and settings; you can browse hearing conservationist jobs on the role's own listings page.
For the size and shape of the field the role plugs into, the site's hearing care workforce statistics pull together BLS data for the hearing care occupations.
And if you run the other side of the desk — an EHS team, a mobile testing company or a clinic adding audiometric testing — you can post a hearing conservation job on HearingHires.
Career information, not licensing, legal, medical, clinical, billing or coding advice — confirm current requirements with OSHA, CAOHC, MSHA or your state labor department before you act on them.