Wireless Industry Not Ready to Provide Hearing Aid Compatible Phones Yet

Many wireless service providers told the FCC their ability to meet Commission deadlines for implementing technological handset upgrades was dependent on the work of handset manufacturers that they couldn’t control. The Commission has set Sept. 16, 2005, as a deadline for carriers to include in their handset offerings at least 2 digital handset models that comply with the hearing aid compatibility standards. It said by Sept. 16, 2006, carriers must provide at least 2 handset models complying with the “inductive coupling” requirements. By Feb. 18, 2008, at least 50% of carriers’ handset models for each air interface should comply with the standards. Wireless service providers and digital wireless handset manufacturers are required to report on the progress toward compliance with the FCC rules every 6 months.

“The industry is on track to comply with the rules before the deadlines,” one wireless attorney familiar with the process told us: “It’s technically complicated, but service providers and manufacturing companies are working diligently to supply compatible phones before the deadline.” Service providers said in comments their handset vendors, including Motorola, Nokia, LG, Audiovox and Kyocera, were telling them that they were working on developing compliant handsets but didn’t have them available yet.

The Alliance for Telecom Industry Solutions (ATIS), representing many vendors, said industry and various hearing impaired groups and consumer representatives worked through needed changes referenced in the C63.19 standard “at a faster process than what is typically a standards review and approval process.” ATIS filed comments on behalf of its Incubator Solutions Program #4 (AISP.4-HAC), which was created to review C63.19 standard and determine how to enable reliability and accuracy in a wireless device lab’s test results when using the C63.19 standard. AISP.4-HAC has 34 voting members, including Alltel, American Cellular Corp., Cingular, Hearing Industries Assn., Motorola, Nextel, Nokia, Panasonic, Qwest Wireless, Samsung, Siemens, Sprint, Sony, T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless and Western Wireless.

“There will be many more changes needed in the current C63.19-2004 rd 3.1 standard, which is currently being balloted,” ATIS said. It said AISP.4-HAC would focus on “the magnetic coupling and compatibility issues related to the wireless devices. Currently, the wireless industry is at a critical junction in its efforts to support the requirements and mandated deadlines defined by the FCC.” ATIS Technical Coordinator James Turner told us: “The industry is building products [to enable hearing aid compatibility]. We are just not sure if we'll be able to measure them.” He said there were products already available today for consumer use. “We've tested them at the Self-Help for the Hard of Hearing convention and 95% of those who tried them were able to define the phone that worked with their hearing,” he said. Turner said he didn’t know whether the industry was in compliance with the FCC rules: “We can’t measure the equipment, so we don’t know whether we can comply with the requirements. Each lab is ready to measure devices internally, but each time we conduct measurements, we get different results.”

ATIS said it was “concerned” that the industry had to work with an old-version of the C63.19 document which came up in 2001. “We've discovered problems with test procedures in the documents and found the solutions, but they haven’t been adopted yet,” Turner said: “We have made changes to the document and they are being balloted right now. Once the C63.19 is approved and updated, we need the FCC to point to the new version.” ATIS said that also raised “an additional concern for the consumers and the ability to show them consistency among the wireless industry with respect to the wireless device rating.” For example, it said an M-3 rating for a wireless device by one manufacturer or lab may not necessarily represent the same rating when tested by another lab. “The consumers may find that M-3 phones from one manufacturer may not work as well as M-3 phones from a different manufacturer, even though both manufacturers are accurate and correct with their test measurements. This would be a result of the measurement uncertainties described in the C63.19 standard,” it said.

ATIS said to support the wireless industry efforts and its future development and use of C63.19 standard, the FCC should: (1) Amend the order and Commission rules to “incorporate the most current version of C63.19 beginning with the version being balloted by the C63 standard committee and due to close on November 29, 2004.” (2) Continue supporting the AISP.4-HAC’s effort to “pursue solutions in the testing methodology to ensure consistency between testing facilities.” (3) “Encourage the C63 standard committee to remain active, taking into consideration future changes, emerging technologies and contributions initiated by the [AISP.4-HAC].” (4) “Consider future changes, emerging technologies and contributions initiated by the [AISP.4-HAC] working group prior to acceptance and adoption into the C63.19 standard.”