You become a hearing instrument specialist — also called a hearing aid specialist or hearing aid dispenser — through your state's licensing process: formal education or a hands-on apprenticeship, supervised training, then the written and practical exams.
BLS lists a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry-level education, and IHS says most people enter through on-the-job training.
The licensing process is set state by state, so the route differs by where you live.
What are the basic requirements to become an HIS?
Hearing aid specialists select and fit hearing aids, administer and interpret hearing tests, assess how well instruments work, and take ear impressions and modify earmolds — that is BLS's definition of the occupation it codes 29-2092.
The day-to-day work behind that definition is covered in our hearing instrument specialist guide; this page is about the route into it.
BLS classifies the typical entry-level education for hearing aid specialists as a high school diploma or equivalent, with no related work experience required and moderate-term on-the-job training.
Read that as the statistical baseline for the occupation, not as your state's licensing rule.
Licensing minimums come from the state.
Oklahoma, for one worked example, requires temporary permit applicants to be at least 18, hold a high school diploma or GED, and submit to a background check, under its hearing aid dealer and fitter rules effective September 11, 2023.
It is one state's rule — IHS notes that regulations vary by jurisdiction, so your state's minimums are its own.
Employers can add requirements on top of the state floor.
HearingLife's apprenticeship, for example, asks for an associate degree or equivalent hours of study, a valid driver's license, and at least one year of full-time work experience, preferably patient-care or healthcare-related; the company notes some states require an associate degree as a minimum.
Licensing rules change — confirm with your state agency
Step 1: check your state's licensing route
Hearing aid dispensing is regulated state by state.
IHS notes that hearing aid specialists are regulated by state or provincial authorities and that the regulations vary by jurisdiction — so there is no single national license to apply for.
The credential's name varies with it.
IHS says hearing aid specialists are also known as hearing instrument practitioners and hearing aid dispensers, and your state's legal term for the credential — along with the board or agency that issues it — comes from your state's own rules.
So step one is a call or a website visit, not an application.
IHS advises training-route candidates to contact their state licensing agency first, then find a trainer or mentor, and suggests networking with local professionals to learn who is hiring.
- The exact name your state gives the dispensing credential
- Minimum age, education and background-check requirements
- Whether a trainee, apprentice or temporary permit exists, and how long it lasts
- Who qualifies as a sponsor, and how many trainees one sponsor may take
- Which written and practical exams the state accepts
- Renewal and continuing-education rules after licensure
Step 2: get a trainee permit and a sponsor, or enroll in a program
IHS describes two pathways into the profession: on-the-job training, or an academic degree in hearing instrument sciences offered at a few colleges in the US and Canada.
Most people enter through on-the-job training, per IHS — which is why the permit-and-sponsor route is the one to understand first.
On that route, you train under a trainee, apprentice or temporary permit with a licensed sponsor, under the names and rules your state uses.
The mechanics are state-specific: supervision rules, sponsor experience requirements, permit length and fees all come from your state's file.
In Oklahoma, for example, a temporary permit lasts up to 12 months and may be renewed once, and a sponsor may directly supervise at most three permit holders at a time.
The other way in is an employer program.
HearingLife's Apprenticeship Program, described on its careers page, combines virtual and in-person classroom learning, hands-on lab work and side-by-side learning with a licensed provider under an assigned preceptor.
The company says it takes on average six months to one year, depending on state licensing requirements.
Its structure runs from a Clinical Introduction Week through 12 weeks of coursework with weekly exams, then in-clinic practice under direct supervision until the apprentice passes the company's clinical certification, and on to the state or national licensing exams.
One study option is built for this route: IHS's Distance Learning for Professionals in Hearing Health Sciences course is designed for aspiring specialists working as apprentices or trainees, and in some states it is a required or recommended prerequisite for licensure.
The course runs 7 self-paced units and ends in a closed-book, 80-question, 120-minute online proctored final exam with a 72% passing score and unlimited retakes.
Sponsors get materials too: IHS sells a Trainer Package, with a trainer manual and an online trainer toolbox, for the licensed professionals who supervise trainees.
And on the practice side, sponsoring a trainee starts with the decision to hire a hearing instrument specialist and develop them in-house — our hiring hub covers the employer's side of that decision.
If you want the trainee's-eye view of this step first — what apprentices actually do and who hires them — our hearing aid apprentice guide covers it.
Step 3: complete supervised training hours
How many supervised hours you need has one honest answer at the national level: the number your state's rules set.
Supervision rules, hour totals, permit lengths and sponsor ratios are set state by state, so be wary of any overview that quotes a single number for the whole country — including this one.
The training period is not a formality.
IHS warns that because the ILE is practice-based, a candidate is unlikely to pass it without clinical experience, and that hands-on trainees must be supervised according to their licensing agency's rules.
Supervision itself is defined by the state.
Oklahoma's rules, for example, keep permit holders under the direct on-site supervision of a licensed sponsor until they have passed every section of the practical exam, then under indirect supervision until they are fully licensed.
Training inside an employer program comes with its own structure: HearingLife apprentices submit weekly hour logs and monthly skill tracking, with biweekly meetings with the company's clinical training team.
Keep your own copy of every hour log and skill sign-off you submit.
Where your state requires a sponsor's attestation, those records are what back it — in Oklahoma, for example, the sponsor must attest that a permit holder is ready for the practical exam.
Step 4: pass the written and practical exams
The exam step generally has the same shape even where the details differ: IHS describes the licensing path as passing written and practical exams to demonstrate competency.
In the majority of US states and Canadian provinces, the written exam is the International Licensing Examination for Hearing Healthcare Professionals (ILE), IHS's multiple-choice exam — the majority, not every jurisdiction, so confirm which exam your state accepts before you study to it.
As listed on IHS's page as of October 2026, the ILE has 105 multiple-choice questions, 80 scored and 25 unscored pilot questions, with a 120-minute time limit.
You do not book it on your own: your state licensing agency determines your eligibility to take the ILE, and IHS sends scheduling instructions once the agency notifies it.
The practical exam is the other half.
Oklahoma's practical, for example, covers pure-tone and recorded speech audiometry technique, masking, earmold impressions, and detecting damage and defects — one state's content list, written into that state's rules.
The same state shows how the two exams connect: Oklahoma's written exam is the ILE or another Department-approved written exam, its permit holders become eligible to take it once they apply for the practical, and a full license requires passing both.
Retake rules come from the state too.
Oklahoma allows a failed practical section to be retaken after at least 7 days, and revokes the temporary permit — with a wait of at least one year before reapplying — when a permit holder fails any practical section or the written exam three times.
Step 5: get licensed and hired
Pass both exams and the state issues its credential, under the name its rules use — the credential that authorizes you to dispense in that state.
IHS says hearing aid specialist licenses are typically renewed annually or biannually, with continuing education, so calendar your renewal and your CE from day one.
The license is also what makes you hireable.
Oklahoma is one state where a business may sell hearing aids at retail only if it employs properly licensed people for the direct sale and fitting, with the license posted at every place of business.
That is one example of why practices recruit credential holders for the licensed seat.
Once the license is in hand, your search changes shape: you are applying for the licensed role instead of the trainee seat.
Browse hearing instrument specialist jobs to see how employers near you describe the licensed role, its settings and its pay structure.
One credential sits beyond licensure: BC-HIS, Board Certified in Hearing Instrument Sciences, awarded by NBC-HIS, an independent, non-profit credentialing organization.
It is a voluntary national credential, not a license, and IHS says licensed professionals are invited to pursue NBC-HIS board certification after two years of active hearing aid dispensing experience.
Can you become an HIS without a degree?
Yes — with a caveat.
A degree is not the entry ticket BLS describes for this occupation: the typical entry-level education is a high school diploma or equivalent, with moderate-term on-the-job training and no related work experience required.
IHS's two pathways include on-the-job training, and IHS says most people enter the field that way rather than through the degree.
The caveat is that BLS's category describes the occupation statistically, not your state's licensing minimum.
Your state sets the education rule for its dispensing credential, and HearingLife notes that some states require an associate degree as a minimum — so the honest answer to the without-a-degree question is written by your state's licensing agency, not by a national statistic.
If you want the degree anyway, the program type IHS names is an academic degree in hearing instrument sciences, offered at a few colleges in the US and Canada.
Before enrolling anywhere, ask how the program's graduates satisfy your state's licensing steps, because the state credential — not the diploma — is what the permit, the exams and the employer's compliance all turn on.
Career information, not licensing, legal, medical or tax advice. Requirements here come from BLS occupational data, IHS's published guidance, HearingLife's published apprenticeship description and Oklahoma's current hearing aid rules, cited as one worked state example. Confirm your own state's permit, supervision, exam and renewal requirements with your state's licensing agency before you apply.