What Does A Hearing Specialist Do

What Does A Hearing Specialist Do?

Here are examples of responsibilities from real hearing specialist resumes representing typical tasks they are likely to perform in their roles.

Facilitate all contract instructor lead classes including communications with instructor, material acquisition, and equipment setup.
Help implement the emergency HAMP modification program during the financial crisis, strictly adhere to continually changing compliance and operational guidelines.
Maintain HIPAA compliance, review records and make recommendations for medical devices.

Hearing Specialist Overview

Perhaps the hardest question to answer when deciding on a career as a hearing specialist is "should I become a hearing specialist?" You might find this info to be helpful. When compared to other jobs, hearing specialist careers are projected to have a growth rate described as "slower than average" at 3% from 2018 through 2028. This is in accordance with the Bureau of Labor Statistics. What's more, is that the projected number of opportunities that are predicted to become available for a hearing specialist by 2028 is 1,200.

On average, the hearing specialist annual salary is $44,563 per year, which translates to $21.42 an hour. Generally speaking, hearing specialists earn anywhere from $31,000 to $62,000 a year, which means that the top-earning hearing specialists make $31,000 more than the ones at the lower end of the spectrum.

It's hard work to become a hearing specialist, but even the most dedicated employees consider switching careers from time to time. Whether you're interested in a more challenging position or just looking for a fresh start, we've compiled extensive information on becoming a certified hearing instrument dispenser, hearing aid fitter, hearing healthcare practitioner, and hearing aid consultant.

Hearing Specialist Skills and Personality Traits

We calculated that 21% of Hearing Specialists are proficient in Administrative Hearings, Medical Records, and Ieps. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Detail oriented, and Integrity.

We break down the percentage of Hearing Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:

Administrative Hearings, 21%

Applied knowledge of BAA policies and procedures, statutes, rules and judgment to assist taxpayers with the hearing process.

Medical Records, 15%

Resolved errors by resubmitting corrected or unacknowledged claims, medical records, appeals and other documentation required for timely payments.

Ieps, 10%

Communicated with parents and attended IEP meetings about the needs of their hearing- impaired child.

Medi-Cal, 8%

Screen for Medi-cal and/or SSI Eligibility.

Hearing Loss, 8%

Traveled between schools to conduct classroom observations of these students, and developed hearing loss accommodations/modifications packets for general education teachers.

Fair Hearings, 5%

Scheduled various types of fair hearings for the Fair Hearing officers.

"administrative hearings," "medical records," and "ieps" aren't the only skills we found hearing specialists list on their resumes. In fact, there's a whole list of hearing specialist responsibilities that we found, including:

See the full list of hearing specialist skills.

Before becoming a hearing specialist, 42.1% earned their bachelor's degree. When it comes down to graduating with a master's degree, 19.8% hearing specialists went for the extra education. If you're wanting to pursue this career, it may be possible to be successful with a high school degree. In fact, most hearing specialists have a college degree. But about one out of every seven hearing specialists didn't attend college at all.

Those hearing specialists who do attend college, typically earn either business degrees or communication disorders sciences degrees. Less commonly earned degrees for hearing specialists include special education degrees or health care administration degrees.

Once you've obtained the level of education you're comfortable with, you might start applying to companies to become a hearing specialist. We've found that most hearing specialist resumes include experience from San Joaquin County Office of Education, Chula Vista, and Monterey County. Of recent, San Joaquin County Office of Education had 2 positions open for hearing specialists. Meanwhile, there are 1 job openings at Chula Vista and 1 at Monterey County.

Since salary is important to some hearing specialists, it's good to note that they are figured to earn the highest salaries at Monterey County, Los Angeles County, and Modesto City Schools. If you were to take a closer look at Monterey County, you'd find that the average hearing specialist salary is $38,792. Then at Los Angeles County, hearing specialists receive an average salary of $38,206, while the salary at Modesto City Schools is $32,009. Currently, Monterey County has 0 jobs listed for hearing specialists. Additionally, Los Angeles County and Modesto City Schools only have 0 and 0 job openings.

View more details on hearing specialist salaries across the United States.

Some other companies you might be interested in as a hearing specialist include Apple, United States Army, and Verizon Communications. These three companies were found to hire the most hearing specialists from the top 100 U.S. educational institutions.

In general, hearing specialists fulfill roles in the health care and professional industries. While employment numbers are high in those industries, the hearing specialist annual salary is the highest in the insurance industry with $62,946 as the average salary. Meanwhile, the professional and internet industries pay $55,420 and $48,968 respectively. This means that hearing specialists who are employed in the insurance industry make 78.7% more than hearing specialists who work in the government Industry.

The three companies that hire the most prestigious hearing specialists are:

What Certified Hearing Instrument Dispensers Do

In this section, we compare the average hearing specialist annual salary with that of a certified hearing instrument dispenser. Typically, certified hearing instrument dispensers earn a $16,928 higher salary than hearing specialists earn annually.

Even though hearing specialists and certified hearing instrument dispensers have vast differences in their careers, a few of the skills required to do both jobs are similar. For example, both careers require medical records, patient care, and counsel in the day-to-day roles.

As far as similarities go, this is where it ends because a hearing specialist responsibility requires skills such as "administrative hearings," "ieps," "medi-cal," and "hearing loss." Whereas a certified hearing instrument dispenser is skilled in "hearing aids," "hippa," "treatment options," and "revenue growth." So if you're looking for what truly separates the two careers, you've found it.

Certified hearing instrument dispensers tend to reach lower levels of education than hearing specialists. In fact, certified hearing instrument dispensers are 20.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 3.6% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.

What Are The Duties Of a Hearing Aid Fitter?

Now we're going to look at the hearing aid fitter profession. On average, hearing aid fitters earn a $6,051 higher salary than hearing specialists a year.

A similarity between the two careers of hearing specialists and hearing aid fitters are a few of the skills associated with both roles. We used resumes from both professions to find that both use skills like "medical records," "hearing loss," and "patient care."

But both careers also use different skills, according to real hearing specialist resumes. While hearing specialist responsibilities can utilize skills like "administrative hearings," "ieps," "medi-cal," and "student learning," some hearing aid fitters use skills like "board meetings," "aid sales," "office supplies," and "regular updates."

When it comes to the differences in education between the two professions, hearing aid fitters tend to reach lower levels of education than hearing specialists. In fact, they're 20.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 3.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

How a Hearing Healthcare Practitioner Compares

The hearing healthcare practitioner profession generally makes a higher amount of money when compared to the average salary of hearing specialists. The difference in salaries is hearing healthcare practitioners making $55,333 higher than hearing specialists.

Using hearing specialists and hearing healthcare practitioners resumes, we found that both professions have similar skills such as "medical records," "patient care," and "counsel," but the other skills required are very different.

There are many key differences between these two careers as shown by resumes from each profession. Some of those differences include the skills required to complete responsibilities within each role. As an example of this, a hearing specialist is likely to be skilled in "administrative hearings," "ieps," "medi-cal," and "hearing loss," while a typical hearing healthcare practitioner is skilled in "treatment plans," "clinical staff," "general wellness," and "cpt."

Hearing healthcare practitioners typically study at similar levels compared with hearing specialists. For example, they're 2.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 8.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Description Of a Hearing Aid Consultant

Now, we'll look at hearing aid consultants, who generally average a higher pay when compared to hearing specialists annual salary. In fact, the difference is about $7,197 per year.

According to resumes from both hearing specialists and hearing aid consultants, some of the skills necessary to complete the responsibilities of each role are similar. These skills include "hearing loss," "student learning," and "new clients."

Even though a few skill sets overlap, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a hearing specialist might have more use for skills like "administrative hearings," "medical records," "ieps," and "medi-cal." Meanwhile, some hearing aid consultants might include skills like "hearing aids," "capacity building," "advocacy strategy," and "hearing tests" on their resume.

The average resume of hearing aid consultants showed that they earn higher levels of education to hearing specialists. So much so that the likelihood of them earning a Master's Degree is 11.1% more. Additionally, they're more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 7.5%.

Hearing Specialist What They Do