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Hearing Instrument Specialist Major

Hearing Instrument Specialist

28 Associates's Degrees Annually
#184 in Popularity (Associate's)
$55,650 Median Salary

Types of Degrees Hearing Instrument Specialist Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many hearing instrument specialist graduations there were in 2021-2022 for each degree level.

Education Level Number of Grads
Associate Degree 16
Undergraduate Certificate 2

What Hearing Instrument Specialist Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, hearing instrument specialist majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most important.

Knowledge Areas for Hearing Instrument Specialist Majors

Hearing Instrument Specialist majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

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  • Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
  • Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
  • Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
  • English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
  • Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

Skills for Hearing Instrument Specialist Majors

When studying hearing instrument specialist, you’ll learn many skills that will help you be successful in a wide range of jobs - even those that do not require a degree in the field. The following is a list of some of the most common skills needed for careers associated with this major:

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  • Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
  • Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
  • Instructing - Teaching others how to do something.
  • Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
  • Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.

Abilities for Hearing Instrument Specialist Majors

As a hearing instrument specialist major, you will find yourself needing the following abilities:

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  • Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
  • Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

What Can You Do With a Hearing Instrument Specialist Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with hearing instrument specialist:

Job Title Job Growth Rate Median Salary
Hearing Aid Specialists 20.6% $52,770

Who Is Getting an Associate’s Degree in Hearing Instrument Specialist?

16 Associate's Degrees Annually
69% Percent Women
25% Percent Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
This major is dominated by women with about 69% of recent graduates being female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of hearing instrument specialist majors is as follows:

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Race/Ethnicity Number of Grads
Asian 0
Black or African American 0
Hispanic or Latino 2
White 11
International Students 0
Other Races/Ethnicities 3

How Much Do Hearing Instrument Specialist Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Hearing Instrument Specialist majors often go into careers with median salaries of $55,650. This median refers to all degree levels, so the salary for a person with just a bachelor’s degree may be a little less and the one for a person with an advanced degree may be a little more.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Median Salary for a Hearing Instrument Specialist Major  55,650
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Median Salary for a High School Graduate  ( 30000 to 57900 )
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Median Salary for a Bachelor's Degree Holder  ( 45600 to 99000 )
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Median Salary for an Advanced Degree Holder  ( 55600 to 125400 )
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250K

Some careers associated with hearing instrument specialist require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to hearing instrument specialist have obtained the following education levels.

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Education Level Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma 2.3%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED) 15.5%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production) 1.4%
Some College Courses 2.0%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree) 33.8%
Bachelor’s Degree 39.4%
Master’s Degree 1.7%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession. 2.7%
Doctoral Degree 2.2%

Online Hearing Instrument Specialist Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level Colleges Offering Programs Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year) 0 0
Certificate (1-2 years) 1 0
Certificate (2-4 Years) 1 0
Associate’s Degree 3 0
Bachelor’s Degree 0 0
Post-Baccalaureate 0 0
Master’s Degree 0 0
Post-Master’s 0 0
Doctor’s Degree (Research) 0 0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice) 0 0
Doctor’s Degree (Other) 0 0

Is a Degree in Hearing Instrument Specialist Worth It?

The median salary for a hearing instrument specialist grad is $55,650 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 39% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $315,000 after 20 years!

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You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to hearing instrument specialist.

Major Number of Grads
Emergency Medical Technology/Technician (EMT Paramedic) 27,240
Physician Assistant 12,000
Radiologic Technology 10,633
Surgical Technology 7,412
Respiratory Care Therapy 6,569
Diagnostic Medical Sonography/Sonographer and Ultrasound Technician 6,160
Medical Radiologic Technology/Science - Radiation Therapy 4,080
Athletic Training 3,408
Other Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions 2,012
Cardiovascular Technology/Technologist 1,367
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Technology 773
Electrocardiograph Technology/Technician 652
Nuclear Medical Technology/Technologist 575
Electroneurodiagnostic/Electroencephalographic Technology/Technologist 391
Polysomnography 233
Perfusion Technology/Perfusionist 147
Mammography Technician/Technology 109
Cardiopulmonary Technology 51
Radiation Protection/Health Physics Technician 48
Orthopedic Technology 17
Gene/Genetic Therapy 10

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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