DAN MORALES 

ATTORNEY GENERAL 

QWice of tfie RIttornep QSeneral 

&ate of lltexae 

October 21,199l 

Ms. Susan Gay Dorsett 

chair 

Opinion No. DM-50 

State Committee of Bxaminers for 

Speech-Language Pathology 

and Audiology 

1100 West 49th Street 

Austin, Texas 78756-3183 

Re: Whether audiology students at a 

college or university are required to 

obtain a temporary permit from the 

Texas Board of Examiners in the Fitting 

and Dispensing of Hearing Aids in order 

to make ear impressions 

@Q-100) 

Dear Ms. Dorsett: 

You ask whether an audiology student at a college or university is required to 

obtain a temporary training permit from. the Texas Board of Examiners in the 

Fitting and Dispensing of Hearing Aids (hereinafter, “the board”) in order to make 

impressions for earmolds to be used as parts for hearing aids. 

Articles 4566-1.01 through 4566-1.22, V.T.C.S., (hereinafter, “the act”) 

provide for the regulation of the fitting and dispensing of hearing aids. Article 4566- 

1.06 provides that “[elvery person desiring to engage in fitting and dispensing 

hearing aids in the State of Texas shall be.required to pass an examination given by 

the Texas Board of Bxaminers in the Fitting and Dispensing of Hearing Aids” and 

that those passing the examination and meeting other qualifications under the act 

“shall receive from the Board a license to fit and dispense hearing aids in this state.” 

V.T.C.S. art. 4566-1.06(a), (e). For purposes of article 4566-1.06, “fitting and 

dispensing hearing aids” includes inter alia “the making of impressions for earmolds 

to be used as a part of the hearing aid.” V.T.C.S. art. 4566-1.01(f). 

The temporary training permit you refer to in your question is provided for in 

article 4566-1.09. That provision allows a person who has not taken the examination 

provided for in article 4566-1.06, but who obtains a temporary permit from the 

board, to fit and dispense hearing aids for a stated period of time or until he has 

passed the examination. 

p. 253 
Ms. Susan Gay Dorsett - Page 2 (DM-50) 

Article 4566-1.19 provides, in pertinent part: 

Nothing in this Act shall be construed to apply to the 

following: 

(1) Persons engaged in the practice ~of measuring human 

hearing as part of the academic. curriculum of. an accredited 

institution of higher learning, provided such persons or their 

employees do not sell hearing aids. 

The above-quoted provisions of article 4566-1.19 on their face permit a 

student at an accredited institution of higher learning, who is there “engaged in the 

practice of measuring human hearing as part of the academic curricula” to make 

impressions for earmolds without being subject to board licensure or temporary 

permitting or to the other requirements of the act, so long as he or his employees do 

not “sell” hearing aids. Thus, if audiology students at such institutions are engaged 

in the practice of measuring human hearing as part of their academic curricular 

they may make impressions for earmolds without board licensing or permitting, so 

long, again, as they or their employees do not “sell” hearing aids. See V.T.C.S. art. 

4566-1.01(e) (defhring “[slell” or “sale” to include “a transfer of title or of the right to 

use by lease, bailment, or any other contract,” but not “sales at wholesale by manufacturers to persons licensed under this Act, or to distributors for distribution and 

sale to persons licensed under this Act”); see uLro Attorney General Opinion M-895 

(1971) (an individual who sells earmolds for use as component parts of hearing aids 

is “selling hearing aids” for purposes of the act). 

We note also that a brief received in connection with this request cites 

Attorney General Opinion MW-555 (1982) for the proposition that audiology 

students making impressions for earmolds must have a license or temporary permit 

from the board., That opinion concluded, based on the provisions of subpart (3) of 

article 4566-1.19 then in effect, that individuals with master’s or doctorate degrees in 

audiology were nevertheless subject to the licensure and other provisons of the act if 

‘We note that article 4512j, which provides for regulation of audiolcgkts, in section 2, 

subsection (8). defmcs “[t]he practice of audiology” to include hearing measurement. 

p. 254 
Ms. Susan Gay Dorsett - Page 3 (DM-50) 

they made impressions for earmolds to be used as parts of hearing aids. At the time 

Attorney General Opinion MW-555 dealt with it, subpart (3) read: 

Nothing in this Act shall be construed to apply to the 

following: 

. . . . 

(3) An individual with a master’s or doctorate degree in 

audiology from an accredited college or university may engage 

in the measurement of human hearing by the use of an\ audiometer or by any means for the purpose of making selections and 

adaptations of or recommendations for a hearing aid, provided 

such personsdo not sell hearing aids. 

See Acts 1981,67th Leg., ch. 774, at 2910. 

Attorney General Opinion MW-555 pointed out that article 4566-1.06 required persons engaged in “fitting and dispensing hearing aids” to be licensed or 

temporarily permitted by the board, and that article 4566-1.01(f) provided: 

“Fitting and Dispensing hearing aids” means the measurement of human hearing by the use of an audiometer or by any 

means for the purpose of making selections, adaptations and/or 

sales of hearing aids. The term also includes the sale of hearing 

aids, and the making of impressions for earmolds to be used as a 

part of the hearing aid. 

‘Ibe opinion reasoned that the provisions of subpart (3) then in effect only 

permitted the advanced degreed individuals described there to “engage in the 

measurement of human hearing,” and that the above-quoted article 4566-1.01(f) 

definition of “fitting and dispensing hearing aids” indicated that “making impressions 

for earmolds” was a distinct activity from the “measurement of human hearing,” and 

‘was not covered by the subpart (3) exemption. 

In response to Attorney General Opinion MW-555, the legislature amended 

subpart (3) of article 4566-1.19 to its present form in 1983 by adding the language 

“and the making of impressions for eat-molds to be used as part of a hearing aid.” 

p. 255 
Ms. Susan Gay Dorsett - Page 4 (DE-50) 

Acts 1983, 68th Leg., ch. 125, at 598; see aLro Bill Analysis, S.B. 1100, 68th Leg. 

(1983). 

Subpart (3) of article 4566-1.19 both as originally adopted and as amended in 

1983 is grammatically problematical when considered with the first sentence of the 

article. (“Nothing in this Act shall be construed to apply to the following: . . . An 

individual with a master’s or doctorate degree in audiology.. . may engage in the 

measurement of human hearing.. . and the making of impressions for 

earmolds . . . .“) Nevertheless, we think subpart (3), despite the grammar problem, 

clearly operates as express permission for the audiologists described there to engage 

in only such activities as are enumerated there without being subject to the 

licensing, permitting, or other requirements of the act. Attorney General Opinion 

MW-555 concluded that making impressions for earmolds was not, at that time, one 

of those enumerated activities. Subpart(l), in contrast, exempts students engaged 

in the study of human hearing at certain institutions from the requirements of the 

act for uny activities they engage in, so long as they do not sell hearing aids. 

Therefore, we do not think the analysis of subpart (3) of article 4566-1.19 in 

Attorney General Opinion MW-555, which concluded that making earmolds was not 

one of the permitted activities under subpart (3). is applicable to subpart (l), which 

again permits the individuals described there to engage in uny activities ivithout 

being subject to the act, so long as they do not “sell” hearing aids. 

Accordingly, we conclude in response to your question that pursuant to the 

exemption in article 4566-1.19(l), audiology students engaged in the practice of 

measuring human hearing as a part of the academic curriculum of an accredited 

institution of higher learning may make impressions for earmolds to be used as parts 

in hearing aids without having obtained a license or temporary permit from the 

Board of Examiners in the Fitting and Dispensing of Hearing Aids, so long as the 

students or their employees do not “sell” hearing aids. 

SUMMARY 

Pursuant to the exemption in V.T.C.S. article 4566-1.19(l), 

audiology students engaged in the practice of measuring human 

hearing as a part of the academic curriculum of an accredited 

institution of higher learning may make impressions for 

earmolds to be .used as parts in hearing aids without having 

obtained a ‘iicense or temporary permit from the Board of 

Examiners in the Fitting and Dispensing of Hearing Aids, so 

p. 256 
Ms. Susan Gay Dorsett - Page 5 (DW50) 

long as the students or their employees do not “sell” hearing 

aids. 

DAN MORALES 

Attorney General of Texas 

WILL PRYOR 

First Assistant Attorney General 

MARY KELLER 

Executive Assistant Attorney General 

JUDGE ZOLLIE STEAKLEY (Ret.) 

Special Assistant Attorney General 

RENEA HICKS 

Special Assistant Attorney General 

MADELEINE B. JOHNSON 

Chair, Opinion Committee 

Prepared by William Walker 

Assistant Attorney General 

p. 257