The Kentucky license for a Specialist in Hearing Instruments — licensure as a Hearing Instrument Specialist — is issued by the Kentucky Licensing Board for Specialists in Hearing Instruments under Chapter 334 of the Kentucky Revised Statutes. It authorizes the holder to sell and fit hearing instruments in Kentucky. Behind it stands Kentucky’s own qualifying examination: two written sections and a practical examination, each passed at 70 percent, taken after a twelve-month staged apprenticeship — and it is not the International Licensing Examination. The PassProfessor Kentucky Hearing Instrument Specialist program prepares candidates for that Kentucky examination set. The companion exam guide at /kentucky-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 Kentucky Specialist in Hearing Instruments measures human hearing by means of an audiometer for the purpose of selecting, adapting, and adjusting hearing instruments, takes ear impressions, and sells, fits, and dispenses hearing instruments in Kentucky. Kentucky defines the practice in those terms: the measurement of hearing, the selection and adaptation of the instrument, and the fitting that follows, carried out under a statute and a code of ethics the licensee was examined on before the license issued.
The license is the full, independent credential in its program. It is not a diagnostic or medical credential, and Kentucky’s examination statute says so expressly: nothing in the examination implies that the applicant possesses the degree of medical competence expected of a physician, or the audiological competence of a certified audiologist, and the examination is not conducted in a manner that requires college training to pass. Licensed Kentucky audiologists practice under their own Chapter 334A license and are exempt from this chapter by that license. For everyone else who sells or fits hearing instruments in Kentucky, this license — or the apprentice permit that leads to it — is the only lawful door.
The examination at a glance
| Item | Verified position |
|---|---|
| Program | Specialist in Hearing Instruments / Hearing Instrument Specialist, the Kentucky license for selling and fitting hearing instruments in Kentucky |
| Licensing authority | Kentucky Licensing Board for Specialists in Hearing Instruments; Kentucky Revised Statutes Chapter 334 and 201 KAR Chapter 7 |
| Examination | A state qualifying examination given by the Board — not the International Licensing Examination (ILE). Three sections under 201 KAR 7:040: (a) a written examination on the subject matters in KRS 334.070 and qualification to fit hearing instruments; (b) a written examination on KRS Chapter 334, 201 KAR Chapter 7, KRS 334.120 and 334.130, the code of ethics in 201 KAR 7:090, ear molds, and audiometry; and (c) a practical examination on ear impressions, audiometric testing, and defective hearing instruments |
| Passing standard | 70% on each section (201 KAR 7:040). A candidate retakes only the sections not passed |
| Route | A twelve-month Apprentice Permit in three stages — Stage I (30 days), Stage II (150 days), Stage III (180 days) — completed before the examination; the apprentice takes the first qualifying examination scheduled after the apprenticeship ends |
| Sitting requirements | The applicant furnishes two forms of identification (one with a photograph), an audiometer capable of air, bone, and speech conduction testing with proof of calibration, audiogram forms, earmold impression materials, a human subject, a case history sheet, and an otoscope (201 KAR 7:040) |
| Frequency | The Board gives at least one qualifying examination each year, and additional examinations as the volume of applications makes appropriate (KRS 334.060) |
| Administrator note | PassProfessor is independent and is not affiliated with the Kentucky Licensing Board for Specialists in Hearing Instruments or the International Hearing Society |
Not the license: the Apprentice Permit and the audiologist exemption
Kentucky’s trainee document is the Apprentice Permit, and it is a permit to train, not a license to practice. No person may sell or fit hearing instruments in Kentucky, or hold themselves out as doing so, without either the license issued under KRS 334.080, a current apprentice permit under KRS 334.090, or a Kentucky audiologist license under Chapter 334A — and the license or permit must be conspicuously posted in each office or place of business. The apprentice works the whole twelve months under a sponsor: a licensed specialist with a minimum of three years’ experience, an NBC-HIS board-certified specialist, or a licensee holding a current license issued under Chapter 334 on or before December 31, 1992. The permit’s three stages widen what the apprentice may do — observation first, supervised testing and impressions next, then the full range of a licensed person’s activities while still responsible to the sponsor — but at no stage is the apprentice a licensee.
What the examination covers
Kentucky examines in three sections, and 201 KAR 7:040 names each one. A complete preparation addresses each section on its own terms, because each is passed separately at 70 percent.
Written section one — the fitting subjects. This written examination tests the applicant’s knowledge and proficiency in the subject matters established by KRS 334.070, and the applicant’s qualification to practice the fitting of hearing instruments. KRS 334.070 fixes those knowledge subjects: the basic physics of sound; the anatomy and physiology of the ear, including the science of hearing and the causes and rehabilitation of abnormal hearing and hearing disorders; and the function of hearing instruments. This is the occupation’s core science paper, written to Kentucky’s own statutory scope rather than to a national blueprint.
Written section two — Kentucky law, rules, and ethics. The second written examination covers the provisions of KRS Chapter 334 relating to specialists in hearing instruments; the administrative regulations governing the practice, codified in 201 KAR Chapter 7; conduct required or prohibited by KRS 334.120 and KRS 334.130; the code of ethics established by 201 KAR 7:090; ear molds; and audiometry. A candidate cannot import this section from national study material: its credited answers live in Kentucky’s statute book, Kentucky’s regulation chapters, and Kentucky’s ethics code, and it must be studied there.
There is a fourth demand, quieter than the other three: timing. The apprentice takes the first qualifying examination scheduled after the apprenticeship period completes, and KRS 334.060 guarantees at least one examination each year, with additional sittings as application volume makes appropriate. The candidate does not choose the sitting the way a computer-based candidate chooses a testing window — the apprenticeship’s end and the Board’s calendar meet where they meet. Preparation therefore has to be paced to the Stage III calendar rather than to a self-selected date, and the apprentice who reaches the end of the year still building basic fluency has left the examination’s hardest sections to the season in which there is no slack left to absorb them.
The practical examination — performed, with the candidate’s own equipment. The practical tests proficiency in three areas: ear impressions, audiometric testing, and defective hearing instruments. KRS 334.070’s practical scope sits behind it — pure tone audiometry including air and bone conduction testing; speech audiometry including speech reception threshold, most comfortable listening level, loudness discomfort level, and speech discrimination testing; masking when indicated; recording and evaluating audiograms and speech audiometry to determine proper selection and adaptation of a hearing instrument; and taking earmold impressions. Unusually, and by the rule’s express terms, the candidate supplies the test setting: an audiometer capable of air, bone, and speech conduction testing, proof of its calibration, audiogram forms, earmold impression materials, a human subject to test and to demonstrate earmold impression technique on, a case history sheet, and an otoscope.
What makes this examination demanding
The first demand is that Kentucky’s standard is sectional, and 201 KAR 7:040 publishes it exactly: a passing grade is a score of 70 percent on each section. A strong written subject score does not carry a weak law section, and a strong practical does not rescue either written paper. The candidate retakes only the sections not passed — but the license waits for all three, and an apprentice who fails any written section twice and extends the apprenticeship reverts to, and remains in, Stage II until the failed section is passed.
The second demand is the practical’s logistics, which are themselves part of the test. Kentucky does not hand the candidate a stocked examination room: the rule requires the candidate to furnish the audiometer — capable of air, bone, and speech conduction testing — with proof of calibration, the audiogram forms, the earmold impression materials, a human subject, a case history sheet, and an otoscope, alongside two forms of identification, one with a photograph. A candidate whose calibration proof has lapsed, whose subject does not arrive, or whose audiometer cannot perform speech testing has failed an administrative part of the examination before answering anything.
The third demand is that the second written section cannot be prepared from national materials. KRS Chapter 334, 201 KAR Chapter 7, KRS 334.120 and 334.130, and the 201 KAR 7:090 code of ethics are Kentucky texts, and the section examines them as Kentucky texts — the apprentice-stage rules, the sale-and-fitting requirements, the prohibited conduct, and the ethics code the licensee will practice under.
The route, in order
Step one — qualify and obtain the Apprentice Permit. An applicant who fulfills the requirements of KRS 334.050 applies to the Board for the apprentice permit and secures a qualified sponsor. Step two — work the twelve-month apprenticeship in its three stages (KRS 334.090). Stage I, 30 days: the apprentice works under the sponsor’s direct control and may not in any way fit or test a client for the purpose of selling hearing instruments. Stage II, 150 days: the apprentice may conduct the testing necessary for proper selection and fitting and may make ear impressions, under the direct supervision of the sponsor or a sponsor-qualified licensed specialist, and may not make delivery or final fitting without direct personal supervision during the actual delivery. Stage III, 180 days: the apprentice may engage in all activities of a licensed person, while working under, and responsible to, the licensed sponsor for the remainder of the period. Satisfactory completion of a Board-approved course in the selling or fitting of hearing instruments may be considered equivalent to Stages I and II. Step three — sit the qualifying examination: the apprentice takes the first qualifying examination scheduled after the apprenticeship is complete, furnishing the identification, equipment, materials, and subject the rule requires. Step four — pass every section at 70 percent, retaking any section not passed; the Board notifies the applicant of the results. Step five — the license: on passing the examination and paying the appropriate fee, the candidate obtains the license under KRS 334.080 and posts it conspicuously in each office or place of business.
Staying licensed: the working credential
The Kentucky license is held under the same texts the second written section examined. Chapter 334 and 201 KAR Chapter 7 govern the daily work after licensure exactly as they governed the route to it: the requirements for the sale and fitting of hearing instruments in KRS 334.200, the conduct required and prohibited by KRS 334.120 and 334.130, and the code of ethics in 201 KAR 7:090 are operating rules, not examination trivia. The license itself must be conspicuously posted in each office or place of business — a small provision that states the chapter’s whole posture: the credential is a public fact, held out to every person the specialist tests or fits.
The Board’s presence in the practice also continues. KRS 334.150 gives the Board the powers that frame the working license — preparing and administering the qualifying examinations, licensing qualified applicants, requiring the periodic inspection of audiometric testing equipment, and carrying out periodic inspection of the facilities of persons who practice the fitting of hearing instruments. The specialist who treated the qualifying examination as the end of the Board’s involvement misreads Kentucky; the examination is the entrance to a supervised, inspectable practice, and the audiometer the candidate brought to the practical is the same instrument the Board may inspect in the office afterward.
What the PassProfessor program will cover
Built to the Kentucky qualifying examination, section by section. The program is organised on 201 KAR 7:040 as the Board publishes it: the written fitting-subjects section built on KRS 334.070’s statutory scope — physics of sound, anatomy and physiology of the ear, the science of hearing and hearing disorders, and the function of hearing instruments; the written Kentucky law, rules, and ethics section built on Chapter 334, 201 KAR Chapter 7, KRS 334.120 and 334.130, and the 201 KAR 7:090 code of ethics as Kentucky texts; and the practical examination prepared as performed skills — ear impressions, audiometric testing across air, bone, and speech, and work with defective hearing instruments. It is not built on the ILE, because Kentucky does not give the ILE.
The apprenticeship and the sitting, taught as part of the subject. Kentucky candidates are examined at the end of a staged year, and the examination day itself has a candidate-supplied equipment list. The program teaches the Stage I–III sequence, the sponsor relationship, the first-scheduled-examination rule, the bring-your-own audiometer, calibration proof, materials, and subject requirements, and the sectional 70 percent standard with its Stage II reversion consequence, as the Board publishes them — so the candidate’s training year, equipment, and sitting are planned as one timeline.
Independence, stated plainly. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider, not affiliated with the Kentucky Licensing Board for Specialists in Hearing Instruments or the International Hearing Society. This program is not a Board course, confers no permit or license, and satisfies no apprenticeship requirement; the Board alone licenses, and candidates train, test, and apply through the Board.
Tell me when enrollment opens. The Kentucky Hearing Instrument Specialist 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 Kentucky Hearing Instrument Specialist license?
The Kentucky Licensing Board for Specialists in Hearing Instruments, under Kentucky Revised Statutes Chapter 334 and 201 KAR Chapter 7.
Is the Kentucky examination the ILE?
No. Kentucky gives its own qualifying examination under 201 KAR 7:040 — two written sections and a practical examination prepared and administered by the Board. Neither KRS 334.060–334.070 nor 201 KAR 7:040 names the International Licensing Examination.
What are the three sections of the Kentucky qualifying examination?
A written examination on the KRS 334.070 subject matters and qualification to fit hearing instruments; a written examination on KRS Chapter 334, 201 KAR Chapter 7, KRS 334.120 and 334.130, the code of ethics in 201 KAR 7:090, ear molds, and audiometry; and a practical examination on ear impressions, audiometric testing, and defective hearing instruments.
What score passes in Kentucky?
70% on each section, as published in 201 KAR 7:040. The standard is sectional: every section must be passed at 70 percent, and a candidate retakes only the sections not passed.
What must I bring to the Kentucky practical examination?
Your own examination setting, as 201 KAR 7:040 requires: two forms of identification, one with a photograph; an audiometer capable of air, bone, and speech conduction testing, with proof of audiometric calibration; an audiogram to record test results; earmold impression materials; a human subject to test hearing and demonstrate earmold impression techniques; a case history sheet; and an otoscope.
What is the Kentucky Apprentice Permit?
The twelve-month trainee permit that precedes the examination, worked in three stages under a qualified sponsor: Stage I for 30 days, Stage II for 150 days, and Stage III for 180 days. The apprentice takes the first qualifying examination scheduled after the apprenticeship is complete.
What happens if I fail a written section twice?
Under 201 KAR 7:040, an apprentice who fails any written section two times may extend the apprenticeship on payment of the renewal fees required by 201 KAR 7:015, for no longer than two years from the date of the second examination — and reverts to, and remains in, Stage II until the failed section is passed.
Do licensed audiologists need this Kentucky license?
No. KRS 334.020 recognizes a Kentucky audiologist license issued under Chapter 334A as a separate lawful basis to sell and fit hearing instruments; this program addresses the Chapter 334 specialist license.
Is PassProfessor affiliated with the Kentucky Board or IHS?
No. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider. The Kentucky Licensing Board for Specialists in Hearing Instruments alone licenses and gives the qualifying examination.
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.