The Maryland Hearing Aid Dispenser license, issued by the Board of Examiners for Audiologists, Hearing Aid Dispensers, Speech-Language Pathologists, and Music Therapists, authorizes the holder to fit and dispense hearing aids in Maryland. The licensing examination behind it has two parts — a written part and a practical part — and the standard route to it runs through a Limited License, six months of supervised training, and completion of the International Hearing Society Distance Learning course. The PassProfessor Maryland Hearing Aid Dispenser program prepares candidates for that examination. The companion exam guide at /maryland-hearing-instrument-specialist-exam-guide/ works through the same verified facts in greater depth.
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What this credential certifies
A licensed Maryland Hearing Aid Dispenser tests hearing for the purpose of fitting hearing aids, selects and adapts instruments to the wearer, tests and maintains the instruments themselves, and takes the ear mold impressions on which custom fittings depend. COMAR 10.41.08, the chapter that governs the credential, describes the work in examination terms: pure tone and speech audiometry performed and recorded accurately, masking applied with judgement, hearing aids chosen, adapted, tested, and maintained, and impressions taken safely and completely. It is clinical measurement joined to a physical craft, practised on members of the public who are relying on the dispenser to hear better — and Maryland examines both halves of it, on paper and in person.
The license is not a medical or diagnostic credential. COMAR states the boundary directly: nothing in the examination implies that the applicant possesses the degree of medical competence normally expected of physicians. The dispenser’s examined competence runs the other way — toward accurate testing, honest fitting, and knowing when a client must be referred to a physician, on the conditions COMAR 10.41.08.08 lists. Candidates who prepare as if this were a sales examination misjudge it; candidates who prepare as if it were an audiology degree misjudge it in the opposite direction. It is a licensing examination for a measured, hands-on occupation, taken after supervised training.
The examination at a glance
| Item | Verified position |
|---|---|
| Program | Maryland Hearing Aid Dispenser, the license issued by the Board of Examiners for Audiologists, Hearing Aid Dispensers, Speech-Language Pathologists, and Music Therapists for fitting and dispensing hearing aids in Maryland |
| Licensing authority | Board of Examiners for Audiologists, Hearing Aid Dispensers, Speech-Language Pathologists, and Music Therapists (Maryland Department of Health); Health Occupations Article, Title 2, and COMAR 10.41.08 |
| Examination | Two parts under COMAR 10.41.08.05: a written part and a practical part. The written part uses the most recent competency model licensing examination from the Education Division of the International Hearing Society, in COMAR’s own words. The practical part tests pure tone audiometry (air and bone conduction), speech audiometry (speech reception and speech discrimination), masking methodology, choice and adaptation of hearing aids, testing of hearing aids, maintenance and basic repair of hearing aids, and taking of ear mold impressions |
| Passing standard | Practical part: an applicant shall obtain a score of at least 80 percent on the practical examination (COMAR 10.41.08.05E(2)) — printed here exactly as COMAR publishes it. Written part: the Board determines the passing score (COMAR 10.41.08.05E(1)); COMAR publishes no numerical written pass mark, and none is stated on this page |
| Examination fees | Hearing aid dispenser examination fee $150; application fee for hearing aid dispenser limited license and examination $150; repeat written examination $100 (COMAR 10.41.01.02, the Board’s published fee schedule) |
| Eligibility to test | Six months of training under the supervision of a licensed hearing aid dispenser before taking the examination (COMAR 10.41.08.03B), and a certificate of completion of the International Hearing Society course “Distance Learning for the Professional in Hearing Health Sciences” provided to the Board before taking the Hearing Aid Dispensing Examination (COMAR 10.41.08.03E); the examination application is filed at least 30 days before the examination date |
| Full license education | Evidence of graduation from an accredited 2-year post-secondary program, as COMAR 10.41.08.02D defines it, is included with the application for a full license |
| Credential term | Licenses renew on a two-year cycle; renewal requires 30 hours of Board-approved continuing education in the 2-year licensing period (COMAR 10.41.08.11) |
| Administrator note | PassProfessor is independent and is not affiliated with the Board, the Maryland Department of Health, or the International Hearing Society |
Not the license: the Limited License that comes first
Maryland runs this credential as a staged route, and the two documents are routinely confused. The Limited License as a hearing aid dispenser is the trainee tier: it is the document that allows its holder to practise fitting and dispensing under supervision while completing the training the examination presupposes. It is not a license to practise independently. The holder works under a supervising licensee who must hold a valid Maryland license, be actively involved in dispensing hearing aids, have been in practice for a minimum of two years after passing the Board examination, supervise no more than three limited licensees at one time, and not have been formally disciplined by the Board within the previous five years. On first obtaining the limited license, the holder engages in the practice of fitting and dispensing hearing aids for 20 consecutive days under the direct and continuous supervision of the licensee, and the licensee provides direct supervision subsequently for a minimum of 20 hours per month. Supervision must include training in the areas the examination covers, and the limited licensee maintains documentation of the supervision and training for the Board on request.
The clock matters. A limited license expires on the first anniversary of its effective date. The Board may renew it once, for one additional one-year term, if the holder takes but fails the examination or does not take it for a reason the Board accepts. A limited licensee who does not receive a full license within two years after the initial limited license was issued must wait a minimum of one year before applying for another limited license. The full Hearing Aid Dispenser license is what follows the examination: the candidate who has completed the supervised training, filed the Distance Learning certificate, and passed both parts of the examination applies for the full license, with evidence of graduation from an accredited 2-year post-secondary program included in the application. Preparation for the examination belongs inside the limited-license period — that is what the period is for — and the two-year outer limit is the reason it cannot be treated as open-ended.
What the examination covers
COMAR 10.41.08.05 states the examination’s scope in two parts, and a complete preparation addresses each part on its own terms.
The written part — the IHS competency model examination. In COMAR’s own words, “the written examination shall utilize the most recent competency model licensing examination from the Education Division of the International Hearing Society.” That is the description this page uses, because it is the description Maryland publishes: the written part is the International Hearing Society’s current competency-model licensing examination, adopted by the Board as the written component of the Maryland examination. It is the general professional-knowledge paper for the occupation — the science of hearing and sound, audiometric principles, hearing aid technology, selection and fitting, and the care of the people who wear the instruments. Two written-part rules deserve the candidate’s attention before the sitting. The Board determines the passing score for the written examination; COMAR does not publish that score as a number, and this page prints none. And a candidate who does not earn a passing score on the written examination must retake the entire written examination — there is no section-by-section carry-over.
The practical part — performed proficiency, in eight areas. COMAR requires the Board to ensure that the practical part tests proficiency in: (1) pure tone audiometry, including testing and recording of air and bone conduction; (2) speech audiometry, including speech reception and speech discrimination testing; (3) masking methodology; (4) choice and adaptation of hearing aids; (5) testing of hearing aids; (6) maintenance and basic repair of hearing aids; (7) taking of ear mold impressions; and (8) other techniques and procedures that may be required to fit hearing aids. This is not a paper about skills; it is the skills themselves, performed for examiners. The conduct rules underline the point: an applicant may not be examined by an examiner by whom the applicant is employed or with whom the applicant has a contractual relationship, cheating or dishonesty is treated as grounds for failure, and each applicant works under an identification number the Board assigns at the examination. The passing standard for this part is published, and it is demanding: an applicant shall obtain a score of at least 80 percent on the practical examination.
What makes this examination demanding
The first demand is that half of it is performed. A candidate can know audiometry thoroughly and still lose the practical part to procedure: thresholds recorded carelessly, masking applied at the wrong moment or not at all, an impression that fails to reproduce the ear, a hearing aid fault diagnosed by guessing rather than by testing. The 80 percent standard leaves little room for a weak area across the practical part’s eight proficiency areas — strength in impressions does not excuse weakness in masking. The second demand is sequence: the six months of supervised training and the Distance Learning certificate both come before the examination, and the application is due at least 30 days before the examination date, so finishing training late moves the sitting itself. The third demand is the written retake rule: an unsuccessful written attempt is retaken entire, at the $100 repeat fee, so a narrow miss costs a full second paper. One relief COMAR provides: if the limited license has not expired and the candidate passed within the past two years, the Board accepts prior passage of the written part, the practical part, or both.
The route, in order
Step one — enter training under a Limited License. The applicant applies to the Board for the limited license — the published application fee for the hearing aid dispenser limited license and examination is $150 — with the supervising licensed dispenser identified and the supervisor’s signed affirmation of responsibility for the trainee’s technical training and ethical conduct included. Step two — complete six months of supervised training under that licensed dispenser, beginning with 20 consecutive days under direct and continuous supervision and continuing with at least 20 hours of direct supervision per month, with supervision covering the examination’s areas and documented as COMAR requires. Step three — complete the International Hearing Society Distance Learning course — “Distance Learning for the Professional in Hearing Health Sciences” — and provide the certificate of completion to the Board before taking the examination. Step four — file the examination application at least 30 days before the examination date, with the examination fee of $150, and sit both parts: the written part built on the IHS competency model examination, and the practical part across its eight proficiency areas, passed at 80 percent or better. Step five — apply for the full license, including evidence of graduation from an accredited 2-year post-secondary program. Two side doors exist and both are narrow. An applicant licensed in another state who has passed the IHS examination there may seek waiver of the written examination, at the published waiver fee of $100, meeting Maryland’s other qualifications. And the Board must accept current National Board Certification as a Hearing Instrument Specialist (BC-HIS) in lieu of the written and practical examinations for an applicant who is currently licensed in good standing in the state from which the applicant is applying and who has practiced 3 of the last 5 years before applying — stated here as COMAR 10.41.08.03D publishes it. A separate provision, COMAR 10.41.08.03C, concerns applicants who hold a license to practice medicine and intend to sell hearing aids at retail, whom the Board requires to pass the written and law examinations; it is not part of the standard dispenser’s route.
Staying licensed: renewal and the working credential
The Maryland license renews on a two-year cycle, and renewal is an active obligation, not a formality. Under COMAR 10.41.08.11, a licensee applying for renewal must have completed, within the 2-year licensing period, a total of 30 hours of Board-approved continuing education. Of those 30 hours, 26 or more must be instruction directly relating to the practice of fitting hearing aids — COMAR names the science of hearing and hearing disorders, the structure and function of hearing aids, and the psychology of the hearing impaired — and not more than 4 hours may be in managerial aspects of the practice, such as good business principles and customer management principles; alternatively, up to 5 hours of credit in a single cycle may be earned by attending regularly scheduled Board meetings, at one hour of credit per hour of open session. First renewal is prorated by the year of first licensure: a licensee first licensed in an odd-numbered year meets the full requirement at first renewal, while a licensee first licensed in an even-numbered year completes 10 hours at first renewal — 8 or more in the practice areas and not more than 2 in the managerial areas. The published biennial renewal fee is $250.
The working rules continue alongside renewal. COMAR 10.41.08.08 sets the minimum testing procedures for every fitting — air and bone conduction tests at 500, 1,000, 2,000, and 4,000 hertz with masking where the regulation requires it, test results maintained in the client’s record, and evidence at renewal that each audiometer in use has been calibrated within the previous 12 months. The license is displayed conspicuously at the place of practice, address changes are notified in writing within 30 days, and every sale is documented by a receipt carrying the particulars COMAR requires, with a used or reconditioned instrument marked as such. The examinations are the entrance to that working standard, not a substitute for it.
What the PassProfessor program will cover
Built to the Maryland examination, part by part. The program is organised on COMAR 10.41.08.05’s two parts as Maryland publishes them: the written part, prepared as the International Hearing Society competency model licensing examination COMAR adopts — hearing science, audiometric principles, hearing aid technology, selection and fitting — and the practical part, prepared as performed work across its eight proficiency areas, with pure tone and speech audiometry, masking, and ear mold impressions given the weight a single 80 percent practical standard demands.
The route, taught as part of the subject. Maryland candidates lose time to sequence more than to content: a Distance Learning certificate not yet filed, an examination application filed inside the 30-day deadline, a limited license approaching its first anniversary with the examinations still ahead. The program teaches the limited license → supervised training → Distance Learning → examination → full license sequence as COMAR publishes it, so the candidate’s training, filings, and sittings are planned as one timeline against the limited license’s clock.
Independence, stated plainly. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider, not affiliated with the Board of Examiners for Audiologists, Hearing Aid Dispensers, Speech-Language Pathologists, and Music Therapists, the Maryland Department of Health, or the International Hearing Society. This program is not a Board course and is not the IHS Distance Learning course; completing it confers no license or limited license and satisfies no training requirement. The Board alone licenses, and candidates apply, train, and test through the Board.
Tell me when enrollment opens. The Maryland Hearing Aid 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 Maryland Hearing Aid Dispenser license?
The Board of Examiners for Audiologists, Hearing Aid Dispensers, Speech-Language Pathologists, and Music Therapists, within the Maryland Department of Health, under Health Occupations Title 2 and COMAR 10.41.08.
What are the parts of the Maryland examination?
Two parts under COMAR 10.41.08.05: a written part and a practical part. The written part uses, in COMAR’s words, the most recent competency model licensing examination from the Education Division of the International Hearing Society. The practical part tests proficiency in pure tone and speech audiometry, masking, hearing aid choice and adaptation, hearing aid testing, maintenance and basic repair, and ear mold impressions.
What score passes the practical examination?
An applicant shall obtain a score of at least 80 percent on the practical examination. That is the standard as COMAR 10.41.08.05E(2) publishes it, and it applies to the practical part.
What score passes the written examination?
COMAR provides that the Board determines the passing score for the written examination, and it does not publish that score as a number. This page therefore states no written pass mark, because Maryland does not publish one in that form.
What must happen before I can take the examination?
Two things, in COMAR’s order: six months of training under the supervision of a licensed hearing aid dispenser, and a certificate of completion of the International Hearing Society course “Distance Learning for the Professional in Hearing Health Sciences” provided to the Board. The examination application is filed at least 30 days before the examination date.
What is the Limited License, and how long does it last?
The Limited License is Maryland’s supervised trainee tier for hearing aid dispensers. It expires on the first anniversary of its effective date and may be renewed once for one additional year if the holder takes but fails the examination or does not take it for a reason the Board accepts. A holder who does not receive a full license within two years of the initial limited license must wait at least one year before applying for another.
What education does the full license require?
The application for a full license includes evidence of graduation from an accredited 2-year post-secondary program, as COMAR 10.41.08.02D defines that term, alongside the training, Distance Learning, and examination requirements.
What are the state examination and license fees?
As COMAR 10.41.01.02 publishes them: the hearing aid dispenser examination fee is $150; the application fee for the limited license and examination is $150; a repeat written examination is $100; waiver of the written examination is $100; and biennial renewal of the license is $250. These are the Board’s fees, not PassProfessor fees.
What happens if I do not pass the written examination?
You retake the entire written examination — COMAR provides no partial carry-over — at the repeat written examination fee. If you passed either part within the past two years and your limited license has not expired, the Board accepts that prior passage, so a passed part does not have to be re-earned inside that window.
I am licensed in another state and hold BC-HIS certification. Must I take the Maryland examinations?
COMAR 10.41.08.03D provides that the Board must accept current National Board Certification as a Hearing Instrument Specialist (BC-HIS) in lieu of the written and practical examinations if you are currently licensed in good standing in the state from which you are applying and you have practiced 3 of the last 5 years before applying for a Maryland license. Maryland’s other licensure qualifications still apply.
How is the license renewed?
Every two years, with 30 hours of Board-approved continuing education completed within the 2-year licensing period — at least 26 hours directly relating to the practice of fitting hearing aids and not more than 4 hours in managerial subjects, with the first renewal prorated as COMAR 10.41.08.11C provides.
Is PassProfessor affiliated with the Board or the International Hearing Society?
No. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider. The Board alone licenses Maryland hearing aid dispensers, and this program is not a Board course and is not the IHS Distance Learning course required before the 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.