(1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, no person shall engage in the sale of or practice of fitting hearing instruments or display a sign or in any other way advertise or represent himself or herself as a person who practices the fitting and sale or dispensing of hearing instruments unless he or she holds an unsuspended, unrevoked hearing instrument specialist license issued by the department as provided in the Hearing Instrument Specialists Practice Act. A hearing instrument specialist license shall confer upon the holder the right to select, fit, and sell hearing instruments. A person holding a license issued under the act prior to August 30, 2009, may continue to practice under such license until it expires under the terms of the license.

(2) A licensed audiologist who maintains a practice pursuant to (a) licensure as an audiologist, or (b) a privilege to practice audiology under the Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Interstate Compact, in which hearing instruments are regularly dispensed, or who intends to maintain such a practice, shall be exempt from the requirement to be licensed as a hearing instrument specialist.

(3) Nothing in the act shall prohibit a corporation, partnership, limited liability company, trust, association, or other like organization maintaining an established business address from engaging in the business of selling or offering for sale hearing instruments at retail without a license if it employs only properly licensed natural persons in the direct sale and fitting of such products.

(4) Nothing in the act shall prohibit the holder of a hearing instrument specialist license from the fitting and sale of wearable instruments or devices designed for or offered for the purpose of conservation or protection of hearing.