The Arkansas Hearing Instrument Dispenser license, issued by the Arkansas Board of Hearing Instrument Dispensers within the Arkansas Department of Health under Arkansas Code §17-84-101 et seq., authorises the holder to order the use of, fit, and dispense hearing instruments in Arkansas. The licensing examination behind it runs in a fixed order — the standardized written examination administered by the International Hearing Society first, and only on passing it, the Board’s practical portions: ear mold, audiometric, and law and rules. The PassProfessor Arkansas Hearing Instrument Dispenser program prepares candidates for that examination set. The companion exam guide at /arkansas-hearing-instrument-specialist-exam-guide/ works through the same verified facts in greater depth.
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What this credential certifies
A licensed Arkansas Hearing Instrument Dispenser conducts and interprets hearing tests for the purpose of identifying the type and degree of hearing loss and making proper recommendations on those results, selects suitable hearing instruments, makes earmolds and ear impressions, and provides the counselling that pertains to the selling, renting, leasing, pricing, delivery, and warranty of hearing instruments — the practice of dispensing hearing instruments as Arkansas Code §17-84-101 defines it. The Board’s own mission statement frames the license from the public’s side: its primary mission is to ensure the public is protected when purchasing hearing instruments, and its duties include licensing qualified persons who have passed the board examination.
The work is clinical measurement joined to a physical craft, and Arkansas’s examination statute, §17-84-305, describes it in those terms — tests of knowledge, as they pertain to the fitting of hearing instruments, across the basic physics of sound, the human hearing mechanism, the structure and function of hearing instruments, pure tone and speech audiometry, masking, the recording and evaluation of audiograms, selection and adaptation, earmold impressions, and tympanometry. The same statute bounds the examination from above: the tests shall not include questions requiring a medical or surgical education. The license is not a diagnostic or medical credential, and Arkansas law keeps it that way on purpose. Candidates who prepare as if this were an audiology degree examination overshoot it; candidates who prepare as if it were a product examination undershoot it. It is a licensing examination for a measured, hands-on trade, taken in two stages with a hard gate between them — the practical portions do not exist for a candidate until the written portion is passed.
The examination at a glance
| Item | Verified position |
|---|---|
| Program | Arkansas Hearing Instrument Dispenser (Licensed Hearing Instrument Dispenser), the Arkansas Board of Hearing Instrument Dispensers license for fitting and dispensing hearing instruments in Arkansas |
| Licensing authority | Arkansas Board of Hearing Instrument Dispensers, Arkansas Department of Health; Arkansas Code Title 17, Chapter 84, and the Board’s rules at Code of Arkansas Rules Title 17, Part 80 |
| Examination | A licensing examination in two stages. Written portion first: a standardized examination administered by the International Hearing Society (IHS) — the International Licensing Examination (ILE) — taken only after the Board notifies IHS of the applicant’s eligibility (17 CAR §80-107(a)). Practical portions second, on passing the written: given by the Board at least once a year following a regular Board meeting, consisting of the subject matter in Arkansas Code §17-84-305, and including testing of the applicant’s knowledge of Arkansas Code §17-84-101 et seq. and the Board’s rules |
| Practical portions | Three portions under the Board’s fee schedule: ear mold, audiometric, and law and rules — $25 each, nonrefundable; the re-examination fee is the same as the fee for the portion repeated |
| Examination subjects | Arkansas Code §17-84-305(b): basic physics of sound; the human hearing mechanism, including the science of hearing and the causes and rehabilitation of abnormal hearing and hearing disorders; structure and function of hearing instruments; pure tone audiometry, air and bone conduction; live voice or recorded voice speech audiometry, including speech reception threshold and speech discrimination testing; effective masking; recording and evaluation of audiograms and speech audiometry to determine hearing instrument candidacy; selection and adaptation of hearing instruments; taking earmold impressions; and tympanometry |
| Attempts | Three attempts to pass the licensing examination as a whole (§17-84-305(d), as applied in 17 CAR §80-107); an intern who fails any part must complete the internship program before re-examination, and an intern must pass within eighteen months of the internship’s approval or repeat the internship application and program |
| Passing standard | No numeric pass mark is published in the Arkansas sources verified for this page; the Board sends a pass or fail notification, and for the written portion the Board may follow the pass or fail recommendations set out by IHS (17 CAR §80-107(a)(5)) |
| Written fee note | IHS charges a fee for the written examination, paid by the applicant directly to IHS on registration (17 CAR §80-107(a)(3)) |
| Administrator note | PassProfessor is independent and is not affiliated with the Arkansas Board of Hearing Instrument Dispensers, the Arkansas Department of Health, or the International Hearing Society |
Not the license: the one-year internship
Arkansas’s route into this credential runs, for most candidates, through a trainee position with a name of its own. The internship is a one-year employment internship completed before licensure, under the direct personal and physical supervision of a sponsor who has held, continuously and in good standing for at least three years, a valid Arkansas hearing instrument dispenser’s license or a valid Arkansas audiology license (Arkansas Code §17-84-304). The internship is valid only if it is applied for and approved in advance, on the Board’s forms, with the internship fees paid and the sponsor’s supervision established; the sponsor submits an outline of the training program for the Board’s approval before any internship certificate issues, and no qualified sponsor may have more than one intern in the training program at a time.
The internship and the examination interlock, and the rules at 17 CAR §80-107(d) run the interlock precisely. Once the Board receives the sponsor’s written recommendation for an intern who has successfully completed the first six months of the internship, that intern may take the written examination; on passing it, the intern may take the practical portions. Every audiogram and purchase order the intern performs must be approved, initialed, and dated by the sponsor, and the intern must work in the same physical location as the sponsor. An intern who passes the examination during the internship may complete the internship under the sponsor’s oversight without the sponsor’s direct personal and physical supervision — but an intern who fails any part must complete the full internship program before re-examination, and every attempt made during the internship counts against the three attempts the statute allows. An intern who has not passed every part within eighteen months of the internship’s approval, or who exhausts the three attempts, repeats the internship application and program. Section 17-84-304 also lists other bases on which an applicant may meet the pre-licensure requirement — including holding a National Board for Certification in Hearing Instrument Sciences certificate, reciprocity from another state’s license, graduation from an American Conference of Audioprosthology program, or a relevant Associate of Applied Science degree — but the internship certificate itself is a trainee document, never the license. The Hearing Instrument Dispenser license is the credential this program addresses.
What the examination covers
Arkansas examines in two stages, and the statute’s subject list at §17-84-305(b) covers both.
The written portion — the IHS standardized examination, first. The written portion of the licensing examination is a standardized examination administered by the International Hearing Society — the ILE — and 17 CAR §80-107(a) runs its mechanics exactly: on approval for license by examination, the Board notifies IHS of the applicant’s eligibility to take or retake the written exam; IHS then notifies the applicant by email of eligibility to schedule; applicants should not contact IHS directly before being notified, because eligibility and approval are determined by the Board; the applicant pays IHS’s fee directly to IHS on registration; IHS sends the scores to the Board; and the Board sends the pass or fail notification to the applicant by email and regular mail — a reason, the rule notes, to keep contact information with the Board current. For the written portion, the Board may follow the pass or fail recommendations set out by IHS.
The practical portions — the Board’s own, after the written pass. On passing the written portion, and only then, the applicant is eligible to take the practical portions of the licensing exam. They consist of the subject matter contained in §17-84-305, are given at least once a year following a regular Board meeting, and — under §80-107(c) — include testing of the applicant’s knowledge of the provisions of Arkansas Code §17-84-101 et seq. and the Board’s rules. The Board’s fee schedule names the portions the candidate actually sits: an ear mold portion ($25), an audiometric portion ($25), and a law and rules portion ($25) — Arkansas tests its law inside the practical stage, as a portion of the Board’s own examination, rather than as a separate online test. The re-examination fee is the same as the fee for the portion repeated, which makes Arkansas’s retake economics portion-level: a failed portion is re-sat and re-paid as a portion, inside the statute’s three-attempt limit for the examination as a whole.
The subject list, read as a syllabus. Section 17-84-305(b)’s ten areas reward a close reading. The knowledge foundations come first — basic physics of sound; the human hearing mechanism, including the science of hearing and the causes and rehabilitation of abnormal hearing and hearing disorders; and the structure and function of hearing instruments. The measurement areas follow — pure tone audiometry by air and bone conduction; speech audiometry by live or recorded voice, including speech reception threshold testing and speech discrimination testing; and effective masking, named as a subject in its own right. The judgement areas close the list — recording and evaluation of audiograms and speech audiometry to determine hearing instrument candidacy; selection and adaptation of hearing instruments; taking earmold impressions; and tympanometry. Every area is qualified by the statute’s frame: tests of knowledge in these areas as they pertain to the fitting of hearing instruments, with no questions requiring a medical or surgical education.
What makes this examination demanding
The first demand is the gate. Arkansas runs the sequence in the opposite order from states that perform the practical first: the written portion is the entrance examination to the practical portions, and a candidate who has built superb hands but has not passed the written paper has, in Arkansas’s terms, not yet begun the Board’s own examination. Preparation that postpones the written portion postpones everything. The second demand is scarcity of sittings. The practical portions are given at least once a year, following a regular Board meeting — not on demand, not monthly. A candidate who passes the written portion just after a practical sitting may wait months for the next, and an intern’s eighteen-month clock keeps running through the wait. Completed applications for examination must be received by the Board through its Executive Director no later than thirty days before the examination, so the sitting is missed by paperwork as easily as by unpreparedness.
The third demand is the attempt limit. Three attempts to pass the licensing examination as a whole, with internship attempts counting against the same three, converts each sitting from a rehearsal into a spent resource — and for the intern, a failure carries the added cost of completing the full internship before re-examination. The fourth demand is the law and rules portion’s placement: Arkansas law is not a screening quiz taken online at leisure but a portion of the Board’s practical examination, sat under examination conditions alongside the ear mold and audiometric portions, and priced and re-sat as its own portion when failed.
The route, in order
Step one — qualify and, for most candidates, enter the internship. The applicant applies on the Board’s forms for licensure by examination or for the internship, meeting the qualifications in Arkansas Code §17-84-304: for the internship route, a one-year employment internship under a sponsor qualified and approved as described above, with the sponsor’s training-program outline approved by the Board before the internship certificate issues. Applicants meeting one of §17-84-304’s other bases — national certification, reciprocity, an audioprosthology program, or the specified degree — proceed on that documented basis instead. Step two — be approved, and let the Board notify IHS. On approval for license by examination, the Board notifies the International Hearing Society of the applicant’s eligibility; IHS emails the applicant to schedule the written portion; the applicant registers and pays IHS’s fee to IHS. The intern’s variant: after six months of the internship and the sponsor’s written recommendation to the Board, the intern may take the written examination on the same notification path. Step three — pass the written portion. IHS reports the scores to the Board, the Board notifies the applicant of pass or fail by email and regular mail, and a pass opens eligibility for the practical portions. Step four — sit the Board’s practical portions. At a sitting given at least once a year following a regular Board meeting — application complete and received at least thirty days ahead — the candidate takes the ear mold, audiometric, and law and rules portions at $25 each. Step five — the license. With the examination passed as a whole and the remaining licensure requirements met — the Board’s rules set an application fee of $100, a one-time registration fee, and the annual license fee — the Board issues the Arkansas Hearing Instrument Dispenser’s license. An applicant who has not completed the internship program and fails to pass any part of the examination within one year of the initial application’s approval must reapply for licensure by examination, and completes the internship program where §17-84-304 requires it.
Staying licensed: the working credential
The Arkansas license is an annual, working credential. The Board’s renewal application requires verification of current calibration for all equipment the dispenser uses — audiometers and tympanometers, from every office and mobile unit — twelve hours of Board-approved continuing education units for the renewal period, including one unit of ethics, and the renewal filed by the Board’s June 30 deadline to avoid late fees; licenses are not valid until the renewal completes. The connection between licensure and equipment is deliberate in Arkansas: the same statute that empowers the Board to examine also empowers it to require the periodic inspection and calibration of audiometric testing equipment and tympanometers and to inspect the facilities of persons who practise fitting or selling hearing instruments. The dispenser who treats the examination as the end of the regulatory relationship misreads the state; the audiometric portion’s standards are the practice’s standards afterward, down to the calibration dates on the instruments themselves.
What the PassProfessor program will cover
Built to the Arkansas examination set, stage by stage. The program is organised on the Board’s two stages as Arkansas publishes them: the written ILE’s professional knowledge, taught first because Arkansas examines it first; then the Board’s three practical portions — ear mold, audiometric, and law and rules — prepared as performed and written work against §17-84-305(b)’s ten subject areas, with effective masking and audiogram evaluation given the weight the statute’s list gives them.
The internship and the clocks, taught as part of the subject. Arkansas candidates lose time to structure more than to content: an internship not approved before it begins, a written examination attempted before the Board has notified IHS, a practical sitting missed because the application arrived inside thirty days, an eighteen-month internship clock expiring across a once-a-year practical calendar. The program teaches the internship → Board approval → written → practical → license sequence, and the three-attempt limit that disciplines it, as the Board publishes them, so the candidate’s applications, sittings, and sponsor relationship are planned as one timeline.
Independence, stated plainly. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider, not affiliated with the Arkansas Board of Hearing Instrument Dispensers, the Arkansas Department of Health, or the International Hearing Society. This program is not a Board course, confers no license or internship certificate, and satisfies no internship or supervision requirement; the Board alone licenses, and candidates apply, train, and test through the Board and IHS.
Tell me when enrollment opens. The Arkansas Hearing Instrument Dispenser program is in the works as PassProfessor expands its catalog of health examination preparation, and enrollment is not yet open. Leave an email address and PassProfessor will write to you when the program is ready — and only about this program. No date is promised, because the program will open when it meets the standard described above, not before.
Frequently asked questions
Who issues the Arkansas Hearing Instrument Dispenser license?
The Arkansas Board of Hearing Instrument Dispensers, within the Arkansas Department of Health, under Arkansas Code Title 17, Chapter 84 and the Board’s rules at Code of Arkansas Rules Title 17, Part 80.
Which examination do I take first?
The written portion. Under 17 CAR §80-107, the written portion is a standardized examination administered by the International Hearing Society, and only on passing it does the applicant become eligible to take the practical portions of the licensing exam.
How do I become eligible to sit the written portion?
The Board approves the applicant for license by examination and notifies IHS of the applicant’s eligibility to take or retake the written exam; IHS then notifies the applicant by email to schedule it. Applicants should not contact IHS directly before that notification — eligibility and approval are determined by the Board.
What are the practical portions, and what do they cost?
Three portions under the Board’s fee schedule — ear mold, audiometric, and law and rules — at $25 each, nonrefundable. The practical portions consist of the subject matter in Arkansas Code §17-84-305 and include testing of knowledge of §17-84-101 et seq. and the Board’s rules. The re-examination fee is the same as the fee for the portion repeated.
How often are the practical portions given?
At least once a year, following a regular Board meeting. Completed applications for examination must be received by the Board no later than thirty days before the examination.
How many attempts do I have?
Three attempts to pass the licensing examination as a whole, as §17-84-305(d) provides and 17 CAR §80-107 applies. Attempts taken during an internship count against the three; an intern who fails any part must complete the internship program before re-examination, and an intern who has not passed within eighteen months of the internship’s approval must repeat the internship application and program.
What score passes the Arkansas examination?
No numeric pass mark is published in the Arkansas sources verified for this page, and none is stated here. IHS sends the written scores to the Board, the Board notifies the applicant of pass or fail, and for the written portion the Board may follow the pass or fail recommendations set out by IHS.
What is the Arkansas internship?
A one-year employment internship under the direct personal and physical supervision of a sponsor who has held an Arkansas hearing instrument dispenser’s license or audiology license in good standing for at least three years. It must be applied for and approved in advance, the sponsor may supervise only one intern at a time, and after six months — on the sponsor’s written recommendation — the intern may begin the examination sequence. The internship certificate is a trainee document, not the license.
How is the Arkansas license renewed?
Annually, on the Board’s renewal application: current equipment calibration verification, twelve hours of Board-approved continuing education including one unit of ethics, and the renewal filed by the Board’s June 30 deadline to avoid late fees.
Is PassProfessor affiliated with the Arkansas Board, the Department of Health, or IHS?
No. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider. The Board alone licenses and gives the practical portions, and IHS administers the written portion.
When does enrollment open?
The program is in the works and enrollment is not yet open. Leave an email address on this page and PassProfessor will write to you when the program is ready — and only about this program.