You become a newborn hearing screener by getting hired — hospital birthing units and contract screening companies both staff this role — and completing that program's training.
ASHA says a screener may be an audiologist, an SLP, a nurse, a paraprofessional or a trained volunteer, provided they are trained and competent in the program's technology and protocol.
Our research did not establish a national license or certification the job requires; hiring requirements come from the employer, and state law can scope who may screen.
Newborn hearing screener requirements
ASHA sets out who may screen: an audiologist, a speech-language pathologist (SLP), a nurse, a paraprofessional or a trained volunteer.
The requirement ASHA attaches to that list is training and competence in the screening program's technology and protocol.
Our research did not establish a national license or certification the role requires.
Structure matters as much as the list.
ASHA, citing the JCIH 2019 position statement, recommends audiologist oversight of all state and territory newborn hearing screening programs, with audiologists training and monitoring screening personnel and tracking refer rates.
Under the oversight model ASHA recommends, training and quality review run through an audiologist.
State law can scope the role explicitly.
Georgia law, for example, lets non-audiologists perform automated OAE/ABR newborn and childhood hearing screening — birth to 22 years, pass/refer results only — after audiologist-directed training, with a licensed audiologist responsible for the program (O.C.G.A. § 43-44-7(h)).
Georgia is the example our research verified; it is one state's law, so ask the hiring program what your state allows.
What about the education or certificate a posting asks for?
Our research could not verify typical posting requirements for this role, so we will not state them as the standard.
Treat each employer's listing as the authority on what it asks for.
Requirements are program-specific — confirm before you apply
Who hires newborn hearing screeners
Two employer types appear in our sources.
The first is the hospital itself: the CDC says most babies have their hearing screened while still in the hospital after birth, so the hospital's birthing units are where that screening happens.
The second is the contract model: a screening company that runs the hearing screen program inside a hospital with its own on-site screeners.
Pediatrix Medical Group describes itself as one of the leading providers of hospital newborn hearing screens, with an on-site hearing screener who educates parents and over 30 years of experience.
How much U.S. newborn hearing screening is outsourced to contract vendors is not established in the sources we read.
Rather than assume one model dominates where you live, check which hospitals and which companies are actually hiring in your area.
Both employer models, and what the work looks like shift to shift inside them, are described in more depth in our newborn hearing screener career guide.
Training on the job
Training for this role is program-specific, and ASHA's guidance puts it in the program's hands: the competence that matters is competence in that program's technology and protocol, and audiologists are the recommended trainers and monitors of screening personnel.
The equipment side is automated, which is what allows trained non-audiologists to run screens: A-ABR and OAE devices return a pass or refer result that does not require interpretation, and both are noninvasive and usable by trained staff.
The setting side is practical rather than clinical.
Per ASHA, screening does not need a sound booth — it can be done in a nursery or another quiet room, with the infant sleeping or resting quietly in the bassinet.
The protocol is where the real learning sits.
A newborn must pass in both ears in one session to count as a pass; otherwise both ears are rescreened, and in well-baby nurseries the protocol is one inpatient screen plus one inpatient rescreen if needed.
Timing has rules too.
Per JCIH 2019 as summarized by ASHA, a second screen should not immediately follow the first but occur several hours later, and well-baby screening is done as close to discharge as possible — so your work follows the unit's discharge flow.
Quality tracking starts on day one.
ASHA lists a quality benchmark of referring fewer than 4% of newborns for diagnostic audiologic evaluation, and Pediatrix says it tracks refer rates, false positives and capture rates as its quality benchmarks.
Your technique and documentation feed numbers someone reviews.
Which technology you train on depends on the employer.
Pediatrix says all of its newborn hearing screenings use ABR screening technology, while ASHA's guidance covers both OAE and A-ABR as the technologies programs use — a good question for the interview.
Certificates for newborn hearing screeners
The certificate question has two verified answers, and neither is a national license.
The first is the training curriculum named in our sources: NCHAM, based at Utah State University, publishes the Newborn Hearing Screening Training Curriculum (NHSTC), a competency-based online course for newborn hearing screeners built on the JCIH 2019 position statement.
NCHAM's curriculum is self-paced, with 8 modules, and the center says most people complete it in about three hours.
NCHAM recommends it for all stakeholders in hospital newborn hearing screening programs — screening staff, technicians, nurses and program managers — and frames that as a recommendation, not a federal licensing requirement.
The second kind is employer-run: Pediatrix runs a Hearing Screen certification program for its screening technicians that is accredited with the American Academy of Audiology and worth up to 0.4 AAA CEUs.
That is one company's internal program for its own technicians, described by the company itself.
Beyond employer-run programs, our research did not establish a national certification requirement for newborn hearing screeners.
Treat any certificate named in a posting as that employer's own standard, and ask how the program documents competence in its equipment and protocol.
Hospital clearances and background checks
This is the part of the path our research helps with least, so we will be direct about that.
As with every requirement on this page, clearances belong to the employer rather than to a national rule our research found, and our sources do not establish which checks hearing screeners are asked to complete or how long they take.
What we can tell you is where the answer lives: the posting and the employer's HR team.
Before you accept an offer, ask exactly which clearances the unit requires, which of them the employer pays for, and how long each takes to process — the answers affect your start date.
If a contract screening company hires you, the model puts you inside a client hospital, so ask which requirements come from the company and which come from the hospital, and get the list in writing before your first shift.
Getting your first newborn hearing screener job
Compared with licensed hearing care careers, the entry path is short: our research found no degree to finish and no exam step the role requires, so the work is in finding the hiring programs and showing you can be trained.
The competence ASHA describes is in following the program's technology and protocol exactly, so it pays to show comfort with newborns, steady bedside routine and careful documentation.
Browse newborn hearing screener jobs to see how employers near you describe the role, then work the steps below.
Search both employer types
Search hospital careers pages under titles like newborn hearing screener and newborn hearing screening technician, and look at contract screening companies too — Pediatrix, the vendor our sources describe, staffs hospital programs with its own on-site screeners.Read each posting as the authority
Our research could not verify typical posting requirements for this role, so note exactly what each employer asks for — education, certificates, availability — and be ready to show it.Ask the oversight question
Ask who trains new screeners and who oversees the program. ASHA recommends audiologist oversight, with audiologists training and monitoring screening personnel and tracking refer rates, and a program that answers clearly is telling you how it runs.Get clearances in writing early
Whatever your employer requires before your first shift, ask for the list in writing and complete it promptly, so the paperwork does not hold up your start date.
Hiring for a birthing unit or a screening program instead?
You can post a job on HearingHires' hiring hub.
Career information, not medical, legal or tax advice. Personnel guidance here comes from ASHA and JCIH 2019, curriculum details from NCHAM, the vendor description from Pediatrix, and the state example from Georgia law; confirm hiring requirements with each employer, and your state's rules with your state's EHDI program or licensing board.