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Hearing Sensitivity

Ability · O*NET work requirement

The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.

In the O*NET occupational database, Hearing Sensitivity is an ability that work requires. O*NET rates how important it is (1–5) and what level of it a job needs (0–7) for every U.S. occupation. It is rated as important (3 or higher) in 80 of 894 occupations.

Breadth here means how widely O*NET rates this ability as important across occupations — not that it is rare, high-paying, or currently in employer demand.

Occupations that rely most on Hearing Sensitivity

Ranked by O*NET importance to the occupation (1–5). Bars are sized against the 1–5 scale; the level column is what depth of the ability the job needs (0–7).

Occupation Importance Score Level
Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuners 4.4 4.9
Music Directors and Composers 4.3 5.1
Sound Engineering Technicians 4.1 4.3
Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers 3.8 4.0
Bus and Truck Mechanics and Diesel Engine Specialists 3.8 3.9
Motorcycle Mechanics 3.8 3.8
Musicians and Singers 3.8 4.0
Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians 3.6 3.8
Speech-Language Pathologists 3.6 3.9
Audiologists 3.5 3.8
Continuous Mining Machine Operators 3.5 3.4
Derrick Operators, Oil and Gas 3.5 3.4
Industrial Machinery Mechanics 3.5 3.8
Service Unit Operators, Oil and Gas 3.5 3.1
Chemical Plant and System Operators 3.4 2.8
Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Operators 3.4 3.5
Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technicians 3.4 3.9
Locomotive Engineers 3.4 2.9
Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers 3.4 3.0
Audio and Video Technicians 3.3 3.3
Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas 3.3 3.0
Electric Motor, Power Tool, and Related Repairers 3.3 3.3
Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining 3.3 3.1
Fallers 3.3 2.8
Hoist and Winch Operators 3.3 2.9
Millwrights 3.3 3.4
Motorboat Mechanics and Service Technicians 3.3 3.5
Sailors and Marine Oilers 3.3 3.4
Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners 3.3 3.0
Speech-Language Pathology Assistants 3.3 3.3
Structural Iron and Steel Workers 3.3 3.0
Surgical Assistants 3.3 3.3
Agricultural Equipment Operators 3.1 3.5
Audiovisual Equipment Installers and Repairers 3.1 3.1
Aviation Inspectors 3.1 3.1
Commercial Pilots 3.1 3.1
Dredge Operators 3.1 2.6
Electro-Mechanical and Mechatronics Technologists and Technicians 3.1 3.1
Hearing Aid Specialists 3.1 3.1
Helpers--Extraction Workers 3.1 3.1

Showing the top 40 of 80 occupations where this is important.

How AI is used by roles that need Hearing Sensitivity

This ability is not itself "being automated" — but we can look at the roles for which O*NET rates it important and ask how those people actually use AI. This rolls the Anthropic Economic Index per-role signal up across those roles (importance-weighted). 30.0% of the 80 roles where this is important carry observed AI-usage data (24 roles).

Across those roles, 29.0% of AI conversations are people working with AI and 35.9% hand a task to AI , with an average autonomy of 3.77 / 5.

Collaboration pattern Share What it means
directive 23.3% AI does it; you give the instruction
learning 19.7% you ask AI to explain or teach
feedback loop 12.6% AI does it, then adjusts from your feedback
task iteration 9.3% you and AI go back and forth

Roles behind this signal

The roles where this ability is most important and that also have the most AEI data. "Works with AI" is the role's share of conversations that augment rather than automate.

Occupation Importance Works with AI Autonomy
Audio and Video Equipment Technicians 3.3 51.6% 4.0/5
Industrial Machinery Mechanics 3.5 22.8% 4.0/5
Electronic Home Entertainment Equipment Installers and Repairers 3.1 33.9% 3.5/5
Sound Engineering Technicians 4.1 37.4% 4.0/5
Electro-Mechanical Technicians 3.1 25.7% 4.0/5
First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers 3.0 28.3% 3.5/5
Subway and Streetcar Operators 3.0 51.9% 3.0/5
Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic 3.0 18.6% 3.0/5
Electronic Equipment Installers and Repairers, Motor Vehicles 3.0 21.9% 4.0/5
Electric Motor, Power Tool, and Related Repairers 3.3 32.2% 4.0/5
Maintenance and Repair Workers, General 3.0 40.7% 4.0/5
Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers 3.0 38.1% 4.0/5

Source: Anthropic Economic Index (2026-01-15-v4-plus-2025-03-27-v2) over a sample of Claude.ai Free and Pro conversations — not all AI tools and not the whole workforce. Shares are of observed conversations, weighted by how important this ability is to each role; some conversations are left unclassified by Anthropic's taxonomy, so shares need not sum to 100.

Industries that concentrate this

Where Hearing Sensitivity matters most across the economy. Employment reach is the share of an industry's workers in occupations that significantly rely on Hearing Sensitivity (O*NET importance ≥ 3 of 5). Concentration compares that reach to the national average industry, so a value above 1× means the requirement is more pervasive here than across the economy as a whole.

Nationally, about 5.2% of workers are in occupations that significantly rely on Hearing Sensitivity (measured across 67 industries).

Sectors with the most such workers

Sector Workers Employment reach
Transportation and Warehousing 1,757,140 23.8%
Manufacturing 1,309,870 10.3%
Construction 1,021,520 12.6%
Wholesale Trade 612,680 10.2%
Real Estate and Rental and Leasing 470,700 19.9%
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services 368,710 4.1%
Health Care and Social Assistance 295,710 1.3%
Retail Trade 282,840 1.8%
Other Services (except Public Administration) 277,590 6.3%
Educational Services 256,690 1.9%
Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction 256,240 44.7%
Accommodation and Food Services 157,840 1.1%

Industries where it is most concentrated

Industry Level Concentration Employment reach
Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction Sector 8.6× 44.7%
Farm and Garden Machinery and Equipment Merchant Wholesalers National industry 5.88× 30.6%
Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors National industry 5.1× 26.5%
Transportation and Warehousing Sector 4.58× 23.8%
Real Estate and Rental and Leasing Sector 3.83× 19.9%
Nuclear Electric Power Generation National industry 3.44× 17.9%
Power and Communication Line and Related Structures Construction National industry 3.25× 16.9%
Machine Shops National industry 2.96× 15.4%
Other Building Equipment Contractors National industry 2.54× 13.2%
Construction Sector 2.42× 12.6%
Fossil Fuel Electric Power Generation National industry 2.29× 11.9%
Utilities Sector 2.23× 11.6%

Reach is a measure of how widespread a requirement is across an industry's workforce, not how intensively any individual uses it. Sector worker counts come from BLS OEWS employment; the significance threshold and tool use come from O*NET. Industries shown by concentration are filtered to a real worker base so a tiny specialty cannot top the list on rounding.

Capabilities required by many of the same occupations — a measure of which skills, knowledge and abilities tend to travel together, not a judgment of similarity.

Capability Type Shared occupations
Auditory Attention Ability 69
Reaction Time Ability 55
Rate Control Ability 41
Operation and Control Cross-functional skill 66
Depth Perception Ability 40
Troubleshooting Cross-functional skill 49
Response Orientation Ability 30
Equipment Maintenance Cross-functional skill 37
Repairing Cross-functional skill 35
Multilimb Coordination Ability 63
Operations Monitoring Cross-functional skill 71
Equipment Selection Cross-functional skill 22

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Hearing Sensitivity." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; Census NAICS 2022; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27). Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/abilities/hearing-sensitivity

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Hearing Sensitivity. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/abilities/hearing-sensitivity

BibTeX
@misc{singulariki-hearing-sensitivity,
  title  = {Hearing Sensitivity},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; Census NAICS 2022; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27). Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/abilities/hearing-sensitivity}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.