FCC Approves Actions To Expand Wireless Handset Hearing Aid Compatibility
The FCC adopted new hearing aid compatibility (HAC) rules and made proposals aimed at giving people with hearing loss better access to wireless handsets. At a meeting Thursday, commissioners unanimously approved an order to expand the scope of HAC rules to cover IP-based services, along with a Further NPRM seeking comment on a stakeholder consensus proposal to establish a path to achieving 100 percent HAC-compatible handsets within eight years, if technically feasible. FCC officials extolled the “historic” proposal, which was announced Nov. 13 and incorporated into the notice as expected (see 1511130027).
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Some commissioners said the actions will prod industry to build HAC compatibility into their handsets. “We believe accessibility should be a first thought, not an afterthought,” said Chairman Tom Wheeler. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said the consensus plan to get to "100 percent compliance should greatly encourage manufacturers to consider hearing aid compatibility at the earliest stages of the product design process.”
Commissioner Ajit Pai said President Ronald Reagan wore a hearing aid after a pistol was fired too close to his right ear on a movie set in 1939. Reagan was a “powerful advocate” for the hard of hearing and signed the Hearing Aid Compatibility Act into law in 1988, said Pai, commending the FCC action: “I suspect the Gipper would be proud.”
Clyburn said the order would help tens of millions of Americans with hearing loss gain access to advanced communications as they emerge. She said the FCC’s current HAC rules cover traditional cellular services -- "commercial mobile radio services" -- and only to the extent they "meet certain technical requirements." The new rules will cover any commercial terrestrial mobile real-time, two-way voice service reaching a “substantial portion of the public,” she said.
The new rules cover IP-based services “such as Wi-Fi Calling and Voice-over-LTE,” said an FCC release. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said: “Consumers with hearing loss don’t distinguish between calls delivered over a wireless carrier’s network or Wi-Fi -- they simply want the call to go through. They just want to hear a voice on the other side.” The rules expanding the scope of services covered by HAC would take effect Jan. 1, 2018, for device manufacturers and tier one wireless carriers (the top four national providers), and April 1, 2018, for other providers, said Saurbh Chhabra, a Wireless Bureau senior electronics engineer, who outlined the item at the meeting.
The FNPRM seeks comment on the consensus stakeholder plan to make all wireless handsets “accessible to and usable by people who use hearing aid devices and cochlear implants,” said the agency release. Commissioners lauded the proposals developed by the Competitive Carriers Association, CTIA, the Hearing Loss Association of America, the National Association of the Deaf, Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and the Telecommunications Industry Association.
The notice seeks comment on proposed milestones along the way: to require 66 percent of all wireless handsets to be HAC compliant within two years, and 85 percent to be HAC compliant within five years, subject to certain de minimis exceptions, Chhabra said. After seven years, a task force would issue a report and the FCC would make a determination if 100 percent compliance is achievable by year eight, he said. The item also seeks comment on the treatment of legacy systems and other details.
CTIA applauded the FCC for embracing the joint proposal of the wireless industry and hearing-loss community. “The wireless industry has long been dedicated to ensuring that our nation’s world-class wireless products and services are accessible to all consumers,” said CEO Meredith Baker in a statement. “The industry-accessibility community consensus plan, developed through months of collaboration, would chart a course toward the goal of 100 percent HAC accessibility while retaining the flexibility necessary to maintain our leading innovation in mobile devices.”
Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said some wireless providers don’t know whether their handsets are HAC compliant. “I intend to fix that,” he said, thanking his colleagues for incorporating edits on the issue and other matters.
Pai lauded the notice for not focusing on compliance with a particular technical standard. Instead, he said, it seeks comment on various ways providers can “ensure their phones function for those with hearing loss, whether that's through the use of Bluetooth or another creative solution.” He also lauded the FNPRM for seeking comment on a possible “shot clock” for FCC action on HAC waiver requests, which he said would assist planning and innovation.
Clyburn said she was “overjoyed” by the notice and stakeholder agreement for paving the way toward a universal compliance goal. “Our current rules require service providers and handset manufacturers to ensure that a specified fraction or number of their offered handsets meet applicable standards for hearing aid compatibility,” she said. “These standards are known as acoustic coupling, or M-rating, and inductive coupling, or T-rating. The percentage for these models varies based on several factors, but they generally range from one-third to one-half of the covered models. We should move to an approach that replaces the current fractional benchmark method with a 100 percent regime. In other words, every handset should comply with both standards.”