The Wyoming Hearing Aid Specialist license, issued by the Wyoming Board of Hearing Aid Specialists under the Hearing Aid Specialist Licensure Act, W.S. §§33-35-101–121, authorizes the holder to specialize in the fitting, dealing, or dispensing of hearing aids in Wyoming — “hearing aid specialist” and “hearing aid dealer” are synonymous under §33-35-102. Licensure by examination requires all three examinations under Board Rules Chapter 3, §4: a written examination, a practical examination, and a jurisprudence examination, each with its own published passing standard. The PassProfessor Wyoming Hearing Aid Specialist program prepares candidates for that examination set. The companion exam guide at /wyoming-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 Wyoming Hearing Aid Specialist specializes in the fitting, dealing, or dispensing of hearing aids. The work is clinical measurement joined to a physical craft: hearing tested to determine whether a hearing aid should be recommended, audiometric equipment whose calibration the applicant must certify, instruments selected and fitted against measured hearing, and a practice conducted inside the Licensure Act’s rules from the first sale onward. The Board was created by the Wyoming Legislature in 1977 to protect the welfare of the public by regulating the practice of hearing aid specialists, and it is staffed through the Professional Licensing Boards Office of the Department of Administration and Information.
The license is the full, independent credential in its program. It is not a diagnostic or medical credential: the Act’s examination route itself states that applicants are examined by written and practical tests to demonstrate their qualification to practice the dispensing, fitting, or sale of hearing aids, that the examination shall not require college training, and that nothing in the examination shall imply the applicant possesses the degree of medical competence normally expected of physicians. Candidates who prepare as if this were a medical examination misjudge it in one direction; candidates who prepare as if Wyoming’s three published passing standards were one standard misjudge it in the other. Wyoming is unusually exact about what passing means — and it means three different things on the three examinations.
The examination at a glance
| Item | Verified position |
|---|---|
| Program | Hearing Aid Specialist — “hearing aid specialist” and “hearing aid dealer” are synonymous per W.S. §33-35-102; the governing act is the Hearing Aid Specialist Licensure Act, W.S. §§33-35-101–121 |
| Licensing authority | Wyoming Board of Hearing Aid Specialists (created by the Wyoming Legislature in 1977; staffed through the Professional Licensing Boards Office, Department of Administration and Information) |
| Examination | All three examinations, per Board Rules Chapter 3, §4 (Licensure by Examination) — the applicant shall successfully pass the written, practical, and jurisprudence examinations. Written: the IHS written examination (the Board office notifies IHS that the applicant is eligible to sit). Practical: administered by the Board. Jurisprudence: the Board’s jurisprudence examination |
| Passing standards (as published, Wyoming only) | Written: “Pass, as determined by IHS” on the IHS written examination. Practical: 65% on each section with an overall average of 70%. Jurisprudence: 70% |
| Eligibility to test | Licensure by examination under Chapter 3, §4 and W.S. §33-35-109, including an education equivalent to a four-year course in an accredited high school as the statute states it, and certification of calibration of all audiometric equipment in use, signed by a qualified person during the previous twelve months, as the Board’s application requirements state it |
| Route | Qualify → Temporary Permit (expires within 1 year or on licensure) where training or awaiting examination → written, practical, and jurisprudence examinations → license (effective until January 30 of the year following the year issued, per W.S. §33-35-108). Endorsement applicants must still pass the jurisprudence examination (Chapter 3, §5) |
| Administrator note | PassProfessor is independent and is not affiliated with the Wyoming Board of Hearing Aid Specialists or the International Hearing Society |
Not the license: the Temporary Permit
The Temporary Permit is the trainee tier of this credential, and it is not the license. The Act defines a temporary permit as a permit issued while the applicant is in training or awaiting examination to become a licensed hearing aid specialist. Board Rules describe the permit as expiring within 1 year or on licensure, whichever comes first in the holder’s case. Wyoming’s statute also describes the supervised form of the permit in detail: an applicant who fulfills the §33-35-109(a) requirements may obtain a temporary permit on application, with no previous experience or waiting period required; the permit entitles the holder to engage in the fitting, dispensing, or sale of hearing aids for one year, and a person holding a valid hearing aid specialist license is responsible for the supervision and training of the permit holder. The Act separately provides for a temporary permit for use without supervision by a licensee, for an applicant entering a hearing aid dealership as sole owner, principal of a firm, or employee-manager who meets the §33-35-109(a) requirements and has been principally engaged in the practice for at least two years within the three years immediately before applying — an experienced-operator instrument, distinct from the supervised training permit, and neither form is the license itself. Preparation aimed at the three examinations belongs inside the permit year, while the supervised practice the practical examination tests is being built.
What the examination covers
Wyoming examines in three registers under Chapter 3, §4, and a complete preparation addresses each on its own terms — including its own standard.
The written examination — the IHS written examination. The Board office notifies the International Hearing Society that the applicant is eligible to sit for the written examination, and passing is “Pass, as determined by IHS” — IHS sets and reports the written standard, and Wyoming publishes it in exactly that form. The paper is the occupation’s general professional-knowledge examination. The Act’s scope provision, W.S. §33-35-111, designs the qualifying examination to demonstrate technical qualifications through tests of knowledge as they pertain to the fitting and sale of hearing aids — basic physics of sound, the anatomy and physiology of the ear, and the function of hearing aids among the named knowledge areas — so the written preparation is grounded in the science the fitting rests on, not in product familiarity.
The practical examination — administered by the Board. The practical is the Board’s own performed examination, and its published standard is the most specific in this family of programs: 65% on each section with an overall average of 70%. Both halves of that standard bind. A candidate whose sections average above 70% but who falls below 65% on any one section has not passed; a candidate uniformly at 66% has cleared every section floor and still has not passed, because the overall average must reach 70%. Preparation must therefore be built section by section, with no weak section left for the others to carry — Wyoming’s arithmetic forbids carrying.
The jurisprudence examination — Wyoming law, at 70%. The third examination tests the Licensure Act and the Board’s rules as the law of the candidate’s own license, and its published passing standard is 70%. Its reach is longer than the examination route itself: under Chapter 3, §5, endorsement applicants — practitioners credentialed elsewhere who are not taking the full Wyoming examination set — must still pass the jurisprudence examination. Wyoming law is the one component no out-of-state credential substitutes for, which tells the first-time candidate exactly how the Board weights it.
What makes this examination demanding
The first demand is the practical’s two-part arithmetic, stated above: a floor on every section and a higher average across them. Most multi-section standards fail a candidate in one way; Wyoming’s can fail a candidate in two, and the two failures call for different repairs — a section below its floor needs that section rebuilt, while an average short of 70% with every section above its floor needs breadth raised across sections. A candidate who does not know which failure occurred cannot repair either. The second demand is sequence across three administrators of the standard: IHS determines the written pass, the Board administers the practical, and the Board’s jurisprudence examination applies Wyoming law — three sittings, three registers, one candidacy, with the Temporary Permit’s one-year life running in the background where the permit route is used. The third demand is statutory honesty about scope: the examination does not require college training and does not imply medical competence, so its difficulty is not academic depth — it is performed accuracy, calibration discipline (the application requires certification of calibration of all audiometric equipment in use, signed by a qualified person during the previous twelve months), and exact knowledge of the Act the license will be worked under. Wyoming publishes its figures; preparation that treats them as approximations has misread the most candidate-friendly feature of the whole system, which is that the standard is knowable in advance, in full.
The figures on this page — practical 65% on each section with an overall average of 70%, jurisprudence 70%, written “Pass, as determined by IHS” — are printed in exactly the form the Board’s rules publish them, for Wyoming only. They are not transferable to any other state’s examinations, and no other state’s figures appear anywhere in this program.
The route, in order
Step one — qualify for licensure by examination. Meet Chapter 3, §4’s eligibility — an applicant not licensed in another jurisdiction, or whose jurisdiction’s requirements are not as stringent as Wyoming’s — together with the statute’s qualifications in §33-35-109, including an education equivalent to a four-year course in an accredited high school, and submit the certification of calibration of all audiometric equipment in use, signed by a qualified person during the previous twelve months. Step two — train or await examination, where applicable, on the Temporary Permit: the supervised form runs one year under a licensee responsible for the holder’s supervision and training, and the permit expires within 1 year or on licensure. Step three — sit the written examination: the Board office notifies IHS of your eligibility; you sit the IHS written examination and must achieve “Pass, as determined by IHS.” Step four — sit the Board’s practical examination and meet its two-part standard: 65% on each section, with an overall average of 70%. Step five — sit the jurisprudence examination and score 70%. Step six — the license: on passing all three examinations and payment, the Board issues the license, effective until January 30 of the year following the year in which it was issued (W.S. §33-35-108). The statute also provides that examinations shall be offered by the Board at least twice a year. Endorsement sits alongside: an applicant credentialed in another jurisdiction follows Chapter 3, §5 — and must still pass the jurisprudence examination at its 70% standard.
Staying licensed: the working credential
The Wyoming license runs on the Act’s annual rhythm: the license issued is effective until January 30 of the year following the year in which it was issued, and annual renewal follows the Act’s renewal provisions (W.S. §33-35-113) on the Board’s terms. The working specialist’s obligations are the ones the route itself rehearsed: audiometric equipment kept in calibration — the certification the application required is a practice habit, not a one-time document — and practice conducted inside the Licensure Act and Board Rules whose contents the jurisprudence examination tested at 70%. The grounds for revocation or suspension in the Act (W.S. §33-35-115’s complaints and grounds provisions) are the same body of law, read from the licensee’s side. A specialist who treated the jurisprudence examination as the end of the regulatory relationship misreads Wyoming; it is the entrance examination to a license that the same Act governs every working day.
What the PassProfessor program will cover
Built to the Wyoming examination set, examination by examination. The program is organised on Chapter 3, §4’s three examinations as the Board publishes them: the IHS written examination’s professional knowledge; the Board practical prepared as performed work, section by section, against its published 65%-per-section and 70%-overall standard; and the jurisprudence examination’s Wyoming Act and rules, taught as Wyoming law to its published 70% standard.
The route, taught as part of the subject. Wyoming candidates lose time to sequence: a Temporary Permit year expiring, a calibration certification outside its twelve-month window, an endorsement applicant surprised that jurisprudence still applies. The program teaches the qualify → permit → three examinations → license sequence as the Act and rules publish it, with the endorsement jurisprudence requirement stated where endorsement candidates will see it.
Independence, stated plainly. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider, not affiliated with the Wyoming Board of Hearing Aid Specialists or the International Hearing Society. This program confers no license or permit and satisfies no training requirement; the Board alone licenses, and candidates apply and test through the Board and IHS under the Board’s arrangements.
Tell me when enrollment opens. The Wyoming Hearing Aid 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
What is the credential called in Wyoming?
Hearing Aid Specialist. Under W.S. §33-35-102, “hearing aid specialist” and “hearing aid dealer” are synonymous, and the governing law is the Hearing Aid Specialist Licensure Act, W.S. §§33-35-101–121.
Who issues the license?
The Wyoming Board of Hearing Aid Specialists, created by the Wyoming Legislature in 1977 and staffed through the Professional Licensing Boards Office of the Department of Administration and Information.
What examinations must I pass?
All three, under Board Rules Chapter 3, §4: the written examination (the IHS written examination), the practical examination (administered by the Board), and the jurisprudence examination.
What are the passing standards?
Exactly as the Board’s rules publish them: the written examination requires “Pass, as determined by IHS” on the IHS written examination; the practical examination requires 65% on each section with an overall average of 70%; and the jurisprudence examination requires 70%. These figures are Wyoming’s, printed in Wyoming’s form, and apply to Wyoming only.
What is the Temporary Permit?
The trainee tier: a permit issued while the applicant is in training or awaiting examination to become a licensed hearing aid specialist, expiring within 1 year or on licensure. In its supervised form, a licensed hearing aid specialist is responsible for the permit holder’s supervision and training. It is not the license.
I am licensed in another state. Must I take any Wyoming examination?
Yes — the jurisprudence examination. Under Board Rules Chapter 3, §5, endorsement applicants must still pass the jurisprudence examination, at its published 70% standard, even where the written and practical examinations are not retaken.
What qualifications and documents does the examination route require?
Licensure-by-examination eligibility under Chapter 3, §4 and W.S. §33-35-109 — including an education equivalent to a four-year course in an accredited high school — and, as the Board’s application requirements state, certification of calibration of all audiometric equipment in use, signed by a qualified person during the previous twelve months.
How long does the license last?
The license issued is effective until January 30 of the year following the year in which it was issued, under W.S. §33-35-108, with annual renewal under the Act thereafter.
Is PassProfessor affiliated with the Board or with IHS?
No. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider. The Board alone licenses and administers the practical and jurisprudence examinations; IHS determines the written examination’s pass.
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.