A pediatric audiologist is a licensed audiologist who specializes in hearing care for newborns, infants, children and teenagers: evaluating hearing from infancy through adolescence, fitting and managing hearing technology, and coordinating care with families and early intervention programs.
You practice on the same state audiology license as any other audiologist — our research found no separate pediatric audiology license — and the specialty is defined by the population you serve, the settings you work in and the test methods the population requires.
What is a pediatric audiologist?
Pediatric audiology is the part of the profession that deals with hearing in children, from the first weeks of life through the teenage years.
Pediatric audiologists identify hearing loss early, measure hearing in children who cannot respond to a test the way an adult does, fit and manage hearing technology, and support families as a child's hearing needs change with development.
The role is a specialization within audiology: pediatric audiologists practice on a state audiology license (our research found no separate pediatric license), and it is the state licensing board that sets the degree, examination and supervised-experience rules you have to meet.
What separates the career from general practice is the population and the skill set: testing has to match a child's age and developmental stage, and care is planned around the child's family and early intervention services.
The profession does formalize the specialty.
Alongside its other certifications, the American Board of Audiology offers a dedicated Pediatric Audiology Specialty Certification (PASC) for audiologists who meet its pediatric experience requirements — summarized in the certification section below.
What does a pediatric audiologist do?
Pediatric audiology draws on the same clinical ground as general practice — evaluation, hearing technology, device work and family counseling — applied to children and organized around their families.
Across settings, the work falls into a few recurring areas.
- Hearing evaluation. Pediatric audiologists assess hearing across childhood, selecting methods that match the child, because an infant, a toddler and a school-age child cannot all respond to the same test format.
- Amplification and device management. Fitting hearing technology for children and supporting families through day-to-day use, adjustments and replacement as a child grows.
- Cochlear implant team work. The American Academy of Audiology's 2023 scope of practice places audiologists on the implant team for cochlear, middle ear, fully implantable and osseointegrated devices. Audiologists in that role determine audiologic candidacy and are principally responsible for device programming.
- Early intervention. ASHA's audiology scope directs audiologists, once a child is diagnosed with hearing loss, to ensure the child and family are enrolled in an appropriate early intervention program. That makes referral and coordination with early intervention programs part of the job.
- Monitoring over time. A child's hearing and hearing technology needs change with growth, so re-evaluation and coordination with families and early intervention programs continue over the years.
Where do pediatric audiologists work?
Pediatric audiology roles sit in settings where children's hearing care is delivered, including:
- Children's hospitals and hospital audiology departments. Hospital-based hearing care for children.
- Cochlear implant programs. Implant teams, where the AAA's 2023 scope says audiologists determine audiologic candidacy and are principally responsible for device programming.
- Early intervention programs. ASHA's audiology scope says audiologists should ensure a child diagnosed with hearing loss and the family are enrolled in one.
- Pediatric and mixed private practices. Independent audiology practices with a pediatric caseload, and ENT groups whose patient mix includes children.
- University clinics and teaching programs. Audiology teaching clinics, including pediatric clinics.
Across these clinical settings, a state audiology license is the baseline.
School-based work is organized differently — around education law — and the comparison below shows how that side of children's audiology is structured.
How do you become a pediatric audiologist?
The route into pediatric audiology runs through audiology itself: the degree, the license, then pediatric experience that turns a general clinician into a children's specialist.
Complete an audiology degree
Earn the audiology degree your state's licensing board accepts. Degree requirements are set state by state, so confirm your state's rule before you enroll rather than assuming one national standard.Meet your state's license requirements
Audiology licensure runs through the state board, which sets the examination and supervised-experience rules for your jurisdiction. Requirements differ by state and change over time, so confirm them where you plan to practice.Build pediatric clinical experience
Choose clinical placements and your externship in pediatric settings — hospitals, early intervention, children's clinics — so your supervised training builds the specialty while you finish school.Specialize on the job
Pediatric expertise is built in pediatric roles: caseload experience, mentoring and continuing education in children's audiology. The ABA's PASC certification gives experienced clinicians a way to document the specialty.
Licensure rules are state rules
Is there a pediatric certification (PASC)?
Yes.
The American Board of Audiology (ABA) offers the Pediatric Audiology Specialty Certification (PASC) alongside its other credentials — the Vestibular Audiology Specialty Certification (VASC), ABA Certified and the General Audiology Board Certification.
PASC is a specialty credential, not a license: your state audiology license is what permits practice, and PASC documents pediatric experience against the ABA's standard on top of it.
The ABA publishes these eligibility requirements for PASC:
- A current audiology license
- A master's or doctoral degree in audiology
- At least 2,000 hours of post-degree paid experience, completed within two years
- 550 hours of pediatric patient contact and 50 hours of pediatric case management, accumulated over two consecutive years within the past five years — externship hours do not count
- Two professional references
Application fees are $125 for Academy members and $160 for non-members, with a reduced fee for a second certification.
The specialty exams are delivered online with live remote proctoring within a two-week window.
PASC also requires recertification every three years.
Confirm with the American Board of Audiology
Pediatric vs educational audiologist
Pediatric and educational audiology overlap on the patients — both serve children — but they differ in employer, setting and legal framework.
Pediatric audiology is organized around clinical care.
Pediatric audiologists work in hospitals, clinics and practices, and their caseload runs from newborns through teenagers, with diagnosis, hearing technology and implant work at the center.
Educational audiology is organized around the school.
Federal IDEA regulations list audiology as a related service for children with disabilities under 34 CFR 300.34.
The services that regulation names include identifying children with hearing loss, determining the range, nature and degree of loss, habilitation, hearing-loss prevention, counseling for children, parents and teachers, and selecting, fitting and evaluating amplification.
The Educational Audiology Association's scope of practice, approved in August 2019, describes educational audiologists as members of the school multidisciplinary team delivering a full spectrum of hearing services to all children, particularly those in educational settings.
School-based educational audiologists may serve students as school employees or through contracted onsite services.
The two roles meet when a child moves between the clinic and the classroom: clinical diagnosis and device management happen on the pediatric side, while the educational side supports hearing access at school.
The employers and day-to-day teams differ.
Find pediatric audiologist jobs
Pediatric audiology openings appear across the settings in this guide: children's hospitals and hospital audiology departments, cochlear implant programs, early intervention programs, university teaching clinics, pediatric and mixed private practices, and ENT groups whose caseloads include children.
A state audiology license is the baseline for any pediatric audiologist role, and the specialty itself calls for testing skill across developmental stages and experience working with families.
If your team needs to hire a pediatric audiologist, start at the HearingHires hiring hub.
If you are the one job-hunting, browse pediatric audiologist jobs on HearingHires to see where the specialty is hiring.
Career information, not medical, licensing, legal or billing advice — confirm license and certification requirements with your state audiology board and the American Board of Audiology.