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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>63567</law_id><section_number>54.1-1500</section_number><catch_line>Definitions</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="54.1">Professions and Occupations</unit><unit label="subtitle" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="II">Professions and Occupations Regulated by the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation and Boards Within the Department</unit><unit label="chapter" level="3" order_by="1" identifier="15">Hearing Aid Specialists and Opticians</unit><unit label="article" level="4" order_by="1" identifier="1">General Provisions</unit></structure><text>
						<section><p>As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning:
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Audiologist</span>&#x201D; means the same as that term is defined in &#xA7;&#xA0;<a class="law" title="Definitions" href="/54.1-2600/">54.1-2600</a>.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Board</span>&#x201D; means the <span class="dictionary">Board</span> for Hearing Aid Specialists and <span class="dictionary">Opticians</span>.
		&#x201C;Hearing aid&#x201D; means any wearable instrument or device designed or offered to aid or compensate for impaired human hearing and any parts, <span class="dictionary">attachments</span>, or accessories, including earmolds, but excluding batteries and cords.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Licensed hearing aid specialist</span>&#x201D; means any person who is the holder of a hearing aid specialist license issued by the <span class="dictionary">Board</span> for Hearing Aid Specialists and <span class="dictionary">Opticians</span>.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Licensed optician</span>&#x201D; means any person who is the holder of an optician license issued by the <span class="dictionary">Board</span> for Hearing Aid Specialists and <span class="dictionary">Opticians</span>.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Licensed optometrist</span>&#x201D; means any person authorized by Virginia <span class="dictionary">law</span> to practice optometry.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Licensed physician</span>&#x201D; means any person licensed by the <span class="dictionary">Board</span> of Medicine to practice medicine and surgery.
		&#x201C;Optician&#x201D; means any person not exempted by &#xA7;&#xA0;<a class="law" title="Exemptions" href="/54.1-1506/">54.1-1506</a> who prepares or dispenses eyeglasses, spectacles, lenses, or related appurtenances, for the intended wearers or users, on prescriptions from <span class="dictionary">licensed physicians</span> or <span class="dictionary">licensed optometrists</span>, or as duplications or reproductions of previously prepared eyeglasses, spectacles, lenses, or related appurtenances; or who, in accordance with such prescriptions, duplications or reproductions, measures, adapts, fits, and adjusts eyeglasses, spectacles, lenses, or appurtenances, to the human face.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Over-the-counter hearing aid</span>&#x201D; means an air-conduction hearing aid that does not require implantation or other surgical intervention and is intended for use by a person age 18 or older to compensate for perceived mild to moderate hearing impairment.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Practice of audiology</span>&#x201D; means the same as that term is defined in &#xA7;&#xA0;<a class="law" title="Definitions" href="/54.1-2600/">54.1-2600</a>.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Practice of fitting or dealing in hearing aids</span>&#x201D; means (i) the measurement of human hearing by means of an audiometer or by any other means solely for the purpose of making selections, adaptations, or <span class="dictionary">sale</span> of hearing aids, (ii) the <span class="dictionary">sale</span> of <span class="dictionary">prescription hearing aids</span>, or (iii) the making of impressions for earmolds for <span class="dictionary">prescription hearing aids</span>. A practitioner, at the request of a physician or a member of a related profession, may make audiograms for the professional&#x2019;s use in consultation with the hard-of-hearing.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Prescription hearing aid</span>&#x201D; means a hearing aid that is not an <span class="dictionary">over-the-counter hearing aid</span>.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Sell</span>&#x201D; or &#x201C;<span class="dictionary">sale</span>&#x201D; means any transfer of title or of the right to use by lease, bailment, or any other <span class="dictionary">contract</span>, excluding wholesale transactions with distributors or practitioners.
		&#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Temporary permit</span>&#x201D; means a permit issued while an applicant is in training to become a <span class="dictionary">licensed hearing aid specialist</span>.</p></section></text><history>1970, c. 571, &#xA7; 54-524.110; 1988, c. 765; 2005, c. 599; 2012, cc. 803, 835; 2018, c. 458; 2023, cc. 273, 274.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
