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).
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.
Related abilities, skills & knowledge
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.
- O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Census NAICS 2022 U.S. Census Bureau
- Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27) Anthropic
Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.
Cite this page
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
Singulariki. (2026). Hearing Sensitivity. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/abilities/hearing-sensitivity
@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.