Minnesota Hearing Aid Dispensing Requirements

The profession of hearing aid dispenser is regulated at the state level and each state maintains its own standards for licensure or registration.

Initial Licensure Requirements

• Be 21 years of age or older
• Have passed a written and practical exam

Reciprocity

A person who has dispensed hearing instruments in another jurisdiction may dispense hearing instruments as a trainee under indirect supervision if the person: satisfies the provisions of hearing aid dispenser; submits a signed and dated affidavit stating that the applicant is not the subject of a disciplinary action or past disciplinary action in this or another jurisdiction and provides a copy of a current credential as a hearing instrument dispenser held in the District of Columbia or a state or territory of the United States.

Continuing Education

Each certified dispenser must submit with the application for renewal of certification evidence of completion of ten course hours of continuing education earned within the 12-month period of November 1 to October 31, between the effective and expiration dates of certification. Continuing education courses must be directly related to hearing instrument dispensing and approved by the International Hearing Society, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, or the American Academy of Audiology.

Audiologist Dispensing

• All audiologists are exempt from taking the written Hearing Instrument Dealers examination.
• All applicants for audiology licensure must achieve a passing score on the practical HID examination.

Board Composition

The Hearing Instrument Dispenser Advisory Council consists of seven persons including: three public members. At least one of the public members shall be a hearing instrument user and one of the public members shall be either a hearing instrument user or an advocate of one; three hearing instrument dispensers, each of whom is currently, and has been for the five years immediately preceding their appointment, engaged in hearing instrument dispensing in Minnesota and who represent the occupation of hearing instrument dispensing and who are not audiologists; and one audiologist licensed as an audiologist who dispenses hearing instruments, recommended by a professional association representing audiologists and speech-language pathologists. No two members of the advisory council shall be employees of, or have binding contracts requiring sales exclusively for, the same hearing instrument manufacturer or the same employer.

Facilities, Procedures and Instrumentation

Must submit annually certification to the commissioner that the applicant's audiometric equipment has been calibrated to meet current ANSI standards within 12 months of the date of the application, if the applicant tests hearing.

• A dispenser when conducting a hearing test for the purpose of hearing instrument dispensing must:
  • Comply with the United States Food and Drug Administration warning regarding potential medical conditions required by Code of Federal Regulations, title 21, section 801.420;
  • Complete a case history of the client's hearing;
  • Inspect the client's ears with an otoscope; and
  • Conduct the following tests on both ears of the client and document the results, and if for any reason one of the following tests cannot be performed pursuant to the United States Food and Drug Administration guidelines, an audiologist shall evaluate the hearing and the need for a hearing instrument:
    • Air conduction at 250, 500, 1,000, 2,000, 4,000, and 8,000 Hertz. When a difference of 20 dB or more occurs between adjacent octave frequencies the interoctave frequency must be tested;
    • Bone conduction at 500, 1,000, 2,000, and 4,000 Hertz for any frequency where the air conduction threshold is greater than 15 dB HL;
    • Monaural word recognition (discrimination), with a minimum of 25 words presented for each ear; and
    • Loudness discomfort level, monaural, for setting a hearing instrument's maximum power output; and
  • Include masking in all tests whenever necessary to ensure accurate results.

Trial Period

A hearing aid trial period is not addressed in the law/regulations.

Mail Order

Mail order dispensing is not addressed in the law/regulations.

Resources

The information contained herein was collected and summarized annually. For detailed information on hearing aid dispenser requirements, contact the state board and visit this website:

Hearing Aid Dispensing Laws

Questions regarding this document? Call ASHA at 800-498-2071 and ask for the State Advocacy Team.