How do you become a hearing aid dispenser?

Answer 1

Hearing Aid Dispenser is a highly demanding career in the coming years. Historically, our longevity has been expanding rapidly since 1950. In addition, baby boomers, who were born in 1945 to 1965, are now aged at 50 or more, and their numbers are more than 70 million.

As more people are getting older, their listening abilities are either decreasing or getting damaged by aging, internal, or external reasons. As more people need professional help for their hearing problems, more hearing related professionals are needed now and in the future.

Many people have hearing related problems, but the numbers of dispensers in the US are actually decreasing because recruitment is not effectively done by various government agencies. For example, the number of new Hearing Aid Dispensers in California is less than 70 compared to 4,300 new lawyers in 2010.

Hearing aid dispensing is a great medical related business in terms of income and business nature. Many positive aspects can be summarized such as no labor intensive work, flexible working hours, very minimal inventory or no inventory needed, advanced technology intensive business, career for all ages, and high profit margin expected.

Not many people have knowledge about the nature of this business, but if you pay attention to this, you will find very attractive aspects as your long-term career.

First of all, this career is a highly recognized career in society. It is an absolutely professional career. All government agencies acknowledge this career as a professional career and many people consider a HAD as an ear doctor.

Secondly, this will be a career for all ages. In many different medical sectors, age sometimes acts as a significant factor. However, in this area, age will be the smallest factor because the majority of your clients are elderly. So, age has small effect in hearing aids dispensing. If you are a household wife, health related employee, nurse, early retiree, young student, mid-aged office worker, man or woman; you can become a dispenser if you pass the written and practical exam.

Thirdly, this can be a long-term career. Hearing loss is not just a physical symptom or disorder; rather, it significantly affects an individual's psychology. Many people who have hearing loss tend to express low self-esteem, rejection, avoid meeting new people, they simply withdraw from others. They live with a psychological burden from their hearing loss. Thus, the trust created between clients and dispenser can be a core element in your dispensing activities. If you care enough for your clients, they tend to be your lifetime customers. It will eventually lead to your long-term career.

Lastly, this career generates a stable income. All medical and health related jobs are very secure in income. The average income of a dispenser in the US is about 70K, and independent private dispensers as store owners make more than 100K.

Before you prepare anything for the examination, I strongly recommend you to call or visit the website of the Hearing Aid Dispenser bureau or any appropriate department in your state to make sure what kinds of requirement you need to fulfill.

Some states require you to have a certain training period under the supervision of an ENT doctor, Audiologist, or Hearing Aid Dispenser in a form of sponsor. However, some states do not require any training period such as Texas and California. Each state has different requirements. Also, many states accept the California license as a legitimate license to do any practice in that state, so you need to check that option, too. If you have a difficult time obtaining any sponsorship, this can be another option.

The minimum educational qualification for the test being the dispenser is only a high school diploma or equivalent degree.

After you finish the basic research for the requirement, you will need to download written exam application. Fill out all the required fields, finalize the procedure, and send it to the dept. with all fees. The approval process may take 4 to 6 weeks depending on the state.

In the mean time, you need to prepare and study for the written exam. For preparation of the written exam, you may do the following:

1. Find a medium level Audiology book in the internet or book store.

2. Find any written and practical exam material in the internet or book store.

3. Visit PSI website for any recommendation of the book with the related subjects.

You may spend 2 to 3 months to get ready for the first written exam. If you pass the exam, you will need to prepare for the practical exam. The practical exam in most states is composed of 3 parts, Audiometric testing, Ear impression, and Post-fitting care. There are more detailed sub-categories. Give at least 3 months to get used to the practical examination procedure.

For preparation of the practical examination, you may do following:

1. Call or visit a local Hearing Aid Dispenser office to ask for minimal training. You never know, sometimes a good person may help you.

2. Call reputed hearing aid manufacturers and find if they offer any practical exam training.

3. Buy a DVD made for the practical examination in the internet.

As soon as you pass the examination, you can work any in Audiologist office, private office, franchiser, or Costco hearing aid center.

Hearing Aid Dispenser will be your great career. We wish you pass the exam.

Answer 2

In order to obtain a Hearing Aid Dispenser License, you must first pass the Hearing Aid Dispenser written and practical exam. The written exam is designed to verify your knowledge level in performing hearing aid dispensing related activities.

We would like to summarize the composition of the exam and its associated info based on the contents provided by the PSI exam site. The following exam information is for candidates in the state of California, but most of information here can be applied to other states. The composition of this exam will be categorized in 10 sections as following: 1. Client case history, 2. Ear inspection and procedure, 3. Audiometric testing, 4. Audiometric test result and audiogram interpretation, 5. Patient assessment and evaluation, 6. Amplification and hearing aid selection, 7. Ear impression and procedure, 8. Knowledge about hearing aids, 9. Hearing aid fitting with the patients, 10. Post-fitting care.

Most questions on the exam are either direct or negative, such as: what is not, where is not, what is, etc. Negative questions tend to be more difficult, thus, you need to pay special attention to any negative words, verbs, and phrases in the questions and answers.

The Hearing Aid Dispenser written exam is not designed with any highly complicated jargon. It has descriptive question that verify your competence to handle hearing loss patients. The exam is not difficult if you apply common sense to the questions.

Secondly, the Hearing Aid Dispenser practical examination is a very straight forward procedure. In this exam, you should keep in mind that you need to talk continuously about the procedure you are doing until the exam is finished.

Here I would like to briefly explain how to handle the exam and how not how to handle the exam. The exam is composed of three parts: Audiometric testing, Ear impression, and Post-fitting care. Audiometric testing is also divided into three parts: 1. Setup the audiometer, 2. Ear or otoscopic inspection, 3. Audiometric testing. Same with Ear impression: 1. Ear inspection, 2. Ear impression procedure, 3.BTE pre-delivery. Post-fitting care is composed of 4: 1. Replacement of tube, 2. Delivery and orientation, 3. Routine service an ITE, 4. Trouble shooting for hearing aids.

You will need to bring your own subject to be tested for the audiometric testing and ear impression. Your subject and you should wear decent attire that represents how sincerely you are participating in the exam and that show your professionalism. Please do not wear tank-top t-shirt or slippers, etc. When your name is called, follow the guide to the appropriate room to be tested. Please do not forget to greet to the proctors and show your sincerity in the full course of the exam.

Most of the time, there will be two proctors. You may be nervous, but it is fine. Sometimes, a little nervousness leads to a better result and represents a good faith to the exam. When you describe something, specifically in the post-fitting section, you should talk continuously until the exam is finished. And you must keep eye contact with the proctor to deliver your knowledge about any subject to get a better point.

In the exam, if you make a minor mistake, ask them if you can do it again correctly, and just do it without their permission unless the proctors firmly say not to do it. The proctors are not only marking your scores, but also observing how you handle the exam as if you are a professional in the real world who cares about hearing loss patients. Your professional attitude and sincerity toward the exam are important although it is not explicitly described in the test guideline.

Before you take the practical examination, you should practice all of the exam procedure at least 30 times thoroughly so you can get familiar with it.

We believe you will pass the Hearing Aid Dispenser written and practical exam if you follow the above-mentioned guideline.

We all wish you pass the exam.