TO BECOME A LICENSED HEARING INSTRUMENT DISPENSER

The State of Illinois requires the following criteria to be completed to become a licensed hearing instrument dispenser:

  1. Minimum of an Associate’s Degree (or its equivalent) from an accredited institution of higher education
  2. Completion of 12 semester hours of academic undergraduate work coursework (3 hours of anatomy & physiology of the speech and hearing mechanism; 3 hours of hearing science; 3 hours of introduction to audiology; and 3 hours of aural rehabilitation (or equivalent)*
  3. Successfully pass the Illinois Department of Public Health’s written and practicum exam for hearing instrument dispensers.

* You can complete the 12 semester hour requirement by purchasing and successfully completing the 39-course online program offered by the International Hearing Society.

THE INTERNATIONAL HEARING SOCIETY’S ONLINE PROGRAM

You can get more information and purchase the Distance Learning Program here: https://www.ihsinfo.org/IhsV2/dlcourse/ . Per the International Hearing Society's website, "International Hearing Society does not monitor the length of time the course will take to complete. This is an independent, self-study course and you set your own pace. It's totally up to you whether you want to get it done in a few weeks, or utilize many months to complete the course." 

* Approval through Parkland College is no longer required.  You may contact the Illinois Department of Public Health and provide evidence of the successful completion of the Distance Learning Program to them directly.

THE STATE LICENSE EXAM

The Illinois Department of Public Health conducts both the written and practicum exams for becoming a hearing instrument dispenser. To find out the schedule of times and places of these exams, contact the Department for updated exam fees.

CONTACT:
Illinois Department of Public Health
Vision & Hearing
(217) 524-2396

FOR MORE INFORMATION