The Colorado Hearing Aid Provider license, issued through the Office of Hearing Aid Provider Licensure in the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) under section 12-230-201, Colorado Revised Statutes, authorizes the holder to dispense, fit, and deal in hearing aids in Colorado. Colorado qualifies that license by written examination only, and it offers two distinct written routes: the National Competency Examination alone, or the International Licensing Examination together with supervised training or a fitting-and-dispensing degree. The PassProfessor Colorado Hearing Aid Provider program prepares candidates for that written qualification. The companion exam guide at /colorado-hearing-instrument-specialist-exam-guide/ works through the same verified facts in greater depth.
This program is part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog — join the notify list and we’ll email you when enrollment opens.
What this credential certifies
A licensed Colorado Hearing Aid Provider tests hearing for the purpose of selecting and fitting hearing aids, takes ear impressions, selects, fits, and dispenses hearing aids, verifies that the fitting is correcting and conforming to the wearer’s hearing loss as expected, and counsels the wearer and the wearer’s family on use, expectations, and performance. The Colorado training curriculum in rule states the work plainly: case history, otoscopy, air and bone conduction testing with masking, speech testing, interpretation of hearing tests with medical referral where necessary, ear impressions, fitting and post-fitting adjustment, verification of hearing aid performance, and counseling through delivery.
The license is the full, independent credential in its program. It is not a diagnostic or medical credential, and it is not an audiology license: audiologists are licensed separately in Colorado, and audiologists may dispense hearing aids under that separate license. The Hearing Aid Provider license is the dispensing credential for the practitioner whose examined work is measurement, impression, fitting, verification, and counsel — performed accurately, documented honestly, and sold under the written disclosures Colorado law requires on every contract.
The examination at a glance
| Item | Verified position |
|---|---|
| Program | Colorado Hearing Aid Provider, the DORA license for dispensing, fitting, and dealing in hearing aids in Colorado |
| Licensing authority | Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA), Division of Professions and Occupations — Office of Hearing Aid Provider Licensure; C.R.S. §12-230-201 and Hearing Aid Provider Rules, 3 CCR 711-1, Rule 1.1 |
| Examination | Written only, by one of two routes: (a) the National Competency Examination (NCE) offered by the National Board for Certification in Hearing Instrument Sciences (NBC-HIS), alone; or (b) the International Licensing Examination (ILE), developed by the International Hearing Society (IHS), or another Director-approved entry-level examination, together with the training or degree requirement below. Colorado requires no practical examination and no separate Colorado law examination |
| Route (b) addition | At least six months of training with an audiologist or a licensed hearing aid provider, or an associate degree in hearing aid fitting and dispensing from an accredited or Director-approved program |
| Passing standard | No numeric pass mark is published in the Colorado statute or rule verified for this package; the rule requires that the applicant has passed the named examination, and no Colorado pass figure is printed here |
| Financial assurance | Every applicant demonstrates financial assurance under C.R.S. §12-230-206: a $10,000 surety bond, a one-million-dollar liability insurance policy, or a Director-approved substantially equivalent alternative |
| Eligibility to train | A licensed apprentice works under the direct supervision of an identified licensed hearing aid provider in good standing; the apprentice route requires at least six months of training including a minimum of 300 documented hours of on-site supervised training |
| Administrator note | PassProfessor is independent and is not affiliated with DORA, NBC-HIS, or the International Hearing Society |
Not the apprentice: the Colorado documents that are routinely confused
Colorado’s live training document is the apprentice license. Since June 1, 2014, a person training to be a licensed hearing aid provider in Colorado must hold a valid apprentice license issued by the Director, and work done before it issues does not count as training hours. The apprentice trains under the direct supervision of an identified licensed hearing aid provider whose license is active and in good standing; the supervisor retains ultimate responsibility for the care the apprentice provides, and an apprentice may not sell hearing aids independently of the supervising provider. Two older documents still circulate in third-party material and cause real confusion: Colorado has issued no new trainee licenses since July 1, 2013, and no new associate licenses since July 1, 2013 — an expired associate license cannot be renewed or reinstated. A candidate planning a Colorado route today plans around one trainee document, the apprentice license, and one destination, the Hearing Aid Provider license itself.
What the examination covers
Colorado examines in writing only, but it examines through two different instruments, and a complete preparation begins by choosing the right one.
Route (a) — the National Competency Examination, alone. Under 3 CCR 711-1, Rule 1.1, an applicant who has passed the National Competency Examination (NCE) offered by NBC-HIS qualifies on the examination element with that pass alone. No Colorado training period and no Colorado degree is bolted onto this route by the rule: the national competency pass is itself the qualification. Candidates who arrive already holding, or preparing for, the NBC-HIS credential should read this route first, because it is the shorter Colorado door.
Route (b) — the ILE, plus training or a degree. The second route pairs a written pass — the International Licensing Examination (ILE) developed by IHS, or another appropriate entry-level examination approved by the Director — with one of two foundations: at least six months of training with an audiologist or a licensed hearing aid provider, or an associate degree in hearing aid fitting and dispensing from an institution or program accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, or approved by the Director. Neither half substitutes for the other: the ILE pass without the training or degree does not qualify, and the training or degree without the written pass does not qualify.
What the written examinations test. Both instruments examine the general professional knowledge of the dispensing occupation: the science of sound and hearing, audiometric testing, hearing aid technology and selection, fitting and verification, and the counseling and follow-up the wearer depends on. Colorado publishes no separate state syllabus and adds no Colorado law paper — but the working knowledge Colorado expects is visible in the apprentice training curriculum the rule sets out, and it is the natural content map for either route: case history and review; otoscopy; air and bone conduction testing with proper masking; speech testing — speech recognition threshold, most comfortable loudness level, uncomfortable loudness level, and discrimination, with masking; interpreting hearing tests and making medical referrals; ear impressions suitable for hearing aids and ear molds; fitting and post-fitting adjustments; verification of hearing aid performance, including real ear measurement and aided-versus-unaided measures; and counseling through delivery, insertion and removal, battery changes, and expectations.
What makes this examination demanding
The first demand is the fork itself. Colorado’s two routes are genuinely different qualifications — a national competency pass standing alone, versus an entry-level written pass that only counts when training or a degree stands behind it — and candidates regularly prepare for the wrong instrument, or assume the ILE alone qualifies them, or assume six months of training must precede the NCE. The rule converts neither route into the other, and preparation that does is aimed at an examination Colorado does not give.
The second demand is what written-only means. Because Colorado sets no practical examination, nothing in the route lets a candidate demonstrate the craft by doing it in front of an examiner: the entire qualification judgment is carried by a written paper about performed work — masking decisions, impression safety, verification choices, referral judgment. A candidate can have capable hands and still fail a written account of the work; a candidate who studies only theory has the mirror-image problem. Preparation has to translate between the bench and the page in both directions.
The third demand is honesty about the standard. Colorado’s rule requires a pass on the named examination but publishes no numeric pass mark in the statute or rule, and none is printed on this page. The honest study target is the full professional-knowledge field the two examinations cover, worked to depth — not a rumoured percentage borrowed from another state’s page.
There is also a documentary demand candidates underestimate: the route is evidenced, not asserted. The training route runs on documented hours — a minimum of 300 of them, logged across the rule’s areas, under a named supervisor whose own license is active and in good standing — and the endorsement route runs on proof of substantially equivalent credentials assembled for the Director’s assessment. A candidate whose competence is real but whose record of it is thin discovers that Colorado licenses the record it can verify. Keeping the training log, the supervisor relationship, and the examination evidence in order from the first month is not administration added to the route; in Colorado it is a substantial part of the route itself.
The route, in order
Step one — choose the route before studying. Read Rule 1.1 against your own record: an NBC-HIS National Competency Examination pass (route (a)), or an ILE pass — or another Director-approved entry-level examination — plus six months of training with an audiologist or licensed hearing aid provider, or the associate degree in hearing aid fitting and dispensing (route (b)). Step two — if training is your foundation, license the training. A trainee on the supervised route holds the apprentice license, trains under an identified licensed provider in good standing, and completes at least the first six months under direct supervision including a minimum of 300 documented hours of on-site supervised training across the rule’s ten training areas; work before the apprentice license issues does not count. After the 300 hours, the apprentice may perform those activities under direct supervision, with every sale reviewed and every contract signed by the supervising provider. Step three — pass the written examination named by your route. Step four — apply for original licensure under C.R.S. §12-230-201 with the examination evidence and the financial assurance the statute requires: a $10,000 surety bond, a one-million-dollar liability insurance policy, or a Director-approved equivalent. Step five — practice under the license, on the continuing education and disclosure terms described below. Licensure by endorsement runs in parallel for applicants holding an active license in good standing elsewhere, on proof of substantially equivalent experience and credentials — which may include a fitting-and-dispensing degree or supervised training and an acceptable entry-level examination pass or national certification such as NBC-HIS, with two years of active practice in good standing in the last five years able to substitute for one of those elements at the Director’s discretion.
Staying licensed: the working credential
The Colorado license runs on a two-year license period with a continuing education obligation that starts immediately upon licensure: at least eight hours of continuing education during each year of the two-year period, in subjects related to the provider’s scope of practice, with no limit on how many hours may be completed online. Licensees keep their own continuing education records for at least four years and produce them on audit — DORA conducts compliance audits after each license period ends — and the same education obligation attaches to reinstating or reactivating an expired or inactive license, at eight hours for each year expired or inactive.
The working rules continue in the same direction. Customer records are kept for at least seven years under a written maintenance plan. Every contract or purchase agreement carries the provider’s name, license type, license number, business address, and telephone number; identifies the provider and apprentices as regulated by the Division; gives the Office’s website, address, and telephone number for complaints; discloses the thirty-day rescission period; and states any nonrefundable charges — fitting and consultation fees, rehabilitation services, disposable parts and accessories — as separate, clearly identified line items. Convictions and other adverse actions are reported to the Office within thirty days, and changes of name, address, telephone, or email within thirty days. The examinations are the entrance to that regulated practice, not a substitute for knowing it.
What the PassProfessor program will cover
Built to both Colorado routes, route by route. The program is organised on Rule 1.1 as DORA publishes it: the National Competency Examination route prepared as the standalone national competency qualification it is, and the ILE route prepared as a written pass that must be matched with six months of supervised training or the fitting-and-dispensing degree. The shared professional-knowledge core — sound and hearing science, audiometric testing with masking, speech testing, interpretation and referral, impressions, fitting, verification, and counseling — follows the ten training areas of Colorado’s own apprentice curriculum, because that curriculum is Colorado’s published map of the working knowledge either examination draws on.
The route decision, taught as part of the subject. Colorado candidates lose time at the fork: training undertaken before the apprentice license issues does not count, an ILE pass alone does not complete route (b), and the defunct trainee and associate licenses still described in older material lead nowhere. The program teaches the two routes, the apprentice license, the financial assurance requirement, and endorsement as DORA publishes them, so the candidate’s examination, training, and application are planned as one sequence.
Independence, stated plainly. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider, not affiliated with DORA, NBC-HIS, or the International Hearing Society. This program is not a DORA course, confers no license, and satisfies no training or degree requirement; DORA alone licenses, and candidates train, test, and apply through DORA, NBC-HIS, and IHS.
Tell me when enrollment opens. The Colorado Hearing Aid Provider 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 Colorado Hearing Aid Provider license?
The Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA), through the Office of Hearing Aid Provider Licensure in the Division of Professions and Occupations, under C.R.S. §12-230-201 and the Hearing Aid Provider Rules at 3 CCR 711-1.
What examination does Colorado require?
A written examination only, by one of two routes: the NBC-HIS National Competency Examination alone, or the ILE — or another Director-approved entry-level examination — together with at least six months of training with an audiologist or licensed hearing aid provider, or an associate degree in hearing aid fitting and dispensing. Colorado requires no practical examination and no separate Colorado law examination.
Does the ILE alone qualify me in Colorado?
No. On the ILE route the written pass must be matched with the six months of training or the associate degree. The examination that stands alone in Colorado is the National Competency Examination.
Does the National Competency Examination route require Colorado training?
No training or degree element is attached to that route in Rule 1.1: the NBC-HIS pass itself is the examination qualification. The separate financial assurance requirement applies to every applicant.
What score passes the Colorado examinations?
Colorado’s statute and rule require that the applicant has passed the named examination, and publish no numeric pass mark in the sources verified for this package. No Colorado pass figure is printed on this page, and candidates should treat any percentage quoted by third-party material with caution.
What is the Colorado apprentice license?
The license a person training to be a hearing aid provider must hold. The apprentice trains under an identified licensed hearing aid provider in good standing, completes at least six months of training under direct supervision including a minimum of 300 documented hours of on-site supervised training, and may not sell hearing aids independently of the supervising provider. Work done before the apprentice license issues does not count as training hours.
What financial assurance must a Colorado applicant show?
One of three forms under C.R.S. §12-230-206: a $10,000 surety bond, a one-million-dollar liability insurance policy, or a substantially equivalent alternative approved by the Director.
I am licensed in another state. How does endorsement work?
An applicant with an active license in good standing elsewhere presents proof of substantially equivalent experience and credentials — a fitting-and-dispensing degree or supervised training, and an acceptable entry-level examination pass or national certification such as NBC-HIS. The Director may substitute two years of active practice in good standing within the last five years for one of those elements.
How much continuing education does a Colorado Hearing Aid Provider need?
At least eight hours during each year of the two-year license period, in subjects related to the provider’s scope of practice, beginning immediately upon licensure. Records are kept for at least four years; DORA audits compliance after each license period ends.
Is PassProfessor affiliated with DORA, NBC-HIS, or IHS?
No. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider. DORA alone licenses, NBC-HIS offers the National Competency Examination, and IHS develops the ILE.
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.