Additional Information
Audiometric technicians have many different educational backgrounds. Some
may be trained in industrial hygiene, as registered nurses, as occupational
nurses or as hearing aid practitioners. Others may be people working in industry
who have been trained to carry out the procedures at a company under the supervision
of an audiologist.
The training to become an audiometric technician may vary from a 20-hour
certification course for health-care providers to a two-year college program
for those completing a hearing conservation or hearing aid practitioner program.
In the U.S., you can receive training and certification to work as audiometric
technicians through the Council for Accreditation in Occupational Hearing
Conservation. Students must enroll in a 20-hour course. Every five years,
they must take a recertification course.
No specific courses or training are required to enter the program. But
people generally have a background in health sciences.
"Job responsibilities differ between states, depending upon licensure laws,"
says Scott Bradley. He is an associate professor of the occupational hearing
conservation program at the University of Wisconsin. "Also, audiometric technicians
often become licensed hearing aid dispensers and often are found in private
practice."