A mobile hearing testing technician runs hearing tests out of a van or truck that travels to employers' worksites, instead of working from a fixed clinic.
CAOHC describes certified occupational hearing conservationists who travel and provide services through mobile hearing testing vans, and mobile occupational health companies such as Examinetics build traveling field roles around that model.
Here is what the work involves, how the schedule gets shaped, and who it fits.
What mobile hearing testing is
A mobile hearing testing technician runs workplace hearing tests from a van or truck that drives onto the client's site, instead of testing from a fixed clinic.
The job is shaped by a federal rule: OSHA's occupational noise standard, 29 CFR 1910.95, requires employers to run a hearing conservation program when employee noise exposure equals or exceeds an 8-hour time-weighted average of 85 dBA.
Audiometric testing is a core part of that program, and the rule is written with vans in mind.
The van language is regulatory text, not marketing.
OSHA requires a valid baseline audiogram within 6 months of an employee's first exposure at or above the action level, or within 1 year where mobile test vans are used.
Where the van pushes the date past 6 months, the employee wears hearing protectors until the baseline is done.
After the baseline, each exposed employee needs a new audiogram at least annually.
CAOHC, the body that certifies hearing conservationists, describes COHCs who travel and provide services through mobile hearing testing vans or trucks.
In the booth, the tech's core task is the pure-tone air-conduction threshold test: OSHA requires test frequencies of at least 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000 and 6000 Hz, with each ear tested separately.
Around the tests sits equipment care.
CAOHC's scope makes the COHC responsible for daily functional checks of the audiometer and booth before use, coordinating annual calibrations and keeping equipment logs current.
The boundaries matter as much as the tasks.
Audiometric technicians are not allowed to interpret audiograms, diagnose ear disorders or refer to specialized care, and any technician performing tests must be responsible to an audiologist, otolaryngologist or physician.
The technician can compare an annual audiogram against the baseline, but problem audiograms go to that professional for review.
Mobile testing is one branch of occupational hearing conservation — the hearing conservationist career guide covers the wider role.
Rules change — verify before you act
A typical week on the road
Strip out the route details and the week is built from a short list of recurring blocks.
You drive to a worksite and run the day's functional check of the audiometer and booth — the pre-use check CAOHC's scope makes the COHC responsible for — before the first employee sits down.
Then it is testing one person at a time through the shift, and keeping the equipment logs current.
Examinetics, a mobile occupational health testing company, describes onsite hearing testing at the worksite through its mobile units.
The client's facility, not a clinic, is the day's workplace.
Three rule-driven deadlines give the calendar its shape.
Annual audiograms come due for every employee at or above the action level, and baselines have to land inside OSHA's 6-month or van-year window for newly exposed workers.
When an annual audiogram shows a standard threshold shift, the employer may retest within 30 days.
CAOHC's scope adds a duty the tech feels directly: the COHC identifies problem audiograms for the professional supervisor's review and must ensure the employee is notified in writing within 21 days after an STS is identified.
COHC training reaches past the hearing test itself: it finishes with practical exams on audiometric testing and hearing protector fitting.
Examinetics also lists respirator fit testing alongside hearing tests in its OSHA and MSHA service description.
Whether its van technicians run that fit testing is not established in the research for this page, so ask what a crew's site day includes beyond hearing tests.
What the research did not pin down is the route structure itself: how many sites a crew covers in a week, how long a stay runs, and how regions get assigned.
Those are employer decisions, and the sources we read do not publish them.
Ask a hiring manager to walk you through a real week, including drive days, before you weigh an offer.
Shift patterns: nights and early mornings
One rule shapes when a baseline can happen: a baseline audiogram must be preceded by at least 14 hours without workplace noise exposure, though hearing protectors can substitute for the quiet period.
Building that window into a worksite day — or substituting hearing protectors for it — makes baseline scheduling a coordination job between the van crew and the site rather than a fixed clinic slot.
Coverage is the other force.
The annual test applies to each employee at or above the action level, so exposed employees on a site's evening or night shifts need annual audiograms too.
When those tests get scheduled is an employer decision the research for this page did not establish.
Mining adds its own version of the cadence: MSHA requires baseline audiograms within 6 months of hearing conservation program enrollment, or 12 months where mobile vans are used, with annual audiograms at intervals not exceeding 12 months.
Whether a particular employer runs fixed day routes, evening shifts or a rotating schedule is not established in the research for this page.
The employer materials in our research describe the travel; they publish no shift patterns.
Treat the schedule as an interview question with a specific follow-up: which shift patterns did the last crew work, and how often is the crew away overnight?
Who hires mobile techs
One employer group is the mobile occupational health testing companies.
Examinetics, a mobile occupational health testing company, provides hearing tests and respirator fit testing to meet OSHA and MSHA requirements.
It says it runs 140+ mobile units alongside a network of more than 6,500 clinics — figures the company publishes about itself, current as of October 2026.
It calls its traveling field staff Occupational Health Technicians or Occupational Health Specialists and describes the role as work that travels around the country.
CAOHC's own list of where COHCs work reaches beyond the van companies: on-site industry clinics, occupational health clinics, mobile testing vans, government agencies and military installations.
The credential is open to audiologists, physicians, occupational health nurses, industrial hygienists, HR directors, safety officers or anyone interested.
The CAOHC course has no prerequisites, so no degree is needed to take it.
Mining is a distinct employer group with a distinct rulebook.
Under MSHA, audiometric tests are done by a physician, an audiologist, or a qualified technician working under their direction or supervision — and MSHA defines a qualified technician as one certified by CAOHC or another recognized organization offering equivalent certification.
State rules add a third layer: per CAOHC, 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.
Travel, per diem and home time
Travel is the model's headline, straight from the company that runs it: Examinetics markets its technician roles as a career that lets you travel and see the country, and by its own count it runs 140+ mobile units.
For people who want a road job in hearing care, that is what the road version of the field looks like — testing that moves site to site for the employer, not a fixed clinic.
The details that decide whether the life suits you are the details our research could not confirm: what share of nights a crew spends away, how rotations balance road time and home time, and how per diem is structured and paid.
No source we read publishes those terms.
They are set offer by offer, so make them explicit interview questions rather than assumptions.
Per diem is the work-model piece worth understanding before you compare offers.
It is a payment for being away that a travel employer may layer on top of wages, and the terms — the daily amount, what it covers, whether it continues on off days — live in each employer's policy.
How any particular per diem arrangement is treated for tax purposes is a question for a tax professional, not something to infer from a job ad.
Whether driving the van requires a commercial driver's license is not established in our research: no source we read settles it either way, so check each posting and ask the employer directly.
One adjacent rule is worth knowing.
Where a worksite visit includes DOT driver physicals, the FMCSA requires the medical examination be performed by a medical examiner listed on its National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners.
What the role pays is its own question — the hearing conservationist career guide holds the pay context for the field, so start there before comparing offers.
Who the job suits
The job fits people who want the road: Examinetics' own career copy frames the travel as part of the appeal — a career that lets you see the country — not a drawback.
It also suits people who like protocol-driven work.
The test is standardized, the frequencies and the record-keeping are fixed by rule, and the daily equipment check is a procedure, not a judgment call.
It also fits people entering hearing care without a degree behind them.
The COHC requires a CAOHC-approved 20-hour course and a passed exam, with no prerequisites, and the certification belongs to the individual even when an employer pays for the course — it travels with you between employers.
Keep it current: certification runs five years from the course completion date.
Renewal goes through an 8-hour course with its own written and practical exams, and an extension has to be requested at least 30 days before expiry.
Let it lapse without one, and the full 20-hour course is back on the table.
It suits less well the person who wants diagnostic work or a broad clinical menu.
Interpreting audiograms, diagnosing ear disorders and referring to specialized care sit outside the technician's lane, and COHC training does not prepare a holder for bone-conduction testing, speech audiometry or noise surveys unless they are specifically trained for them.
If you want the interpreting chair, that is the supervising professional's side of the same worksite.
Career information, not licensing, legal, medical, clinical, billing or coding advice. Certification, registration and testing rules here come from OSHA, MSHA, FMCSA and CAOHC and change over time — confirm current requirements with those bodies and the employer before you enroll, apply or accept a route.