FCC Extends by 6 Months June 5 Hearing Aid Compatibility Requirement Transition
The FCC Wireless Bureau is extending for six months, from June 5 to Dec. 5, the transition to a requirement handset manufacturers exclusively use the 2019 ANSI standard for certifying new handset models as hearing aid-compatible and no longer use the 2011 standard. Meanwhile, comments on a report last year by the FCC HAC Task Force on a path to 100% compatibility for wireless handsets largely support the report. Comments were posted Tuesday in docket 15-285.
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The bureau also is takings comment on an ATIS petition seeking a limited waiver of FCC HAC rules (see 2303230046), which has the support of the wireless industry and groups representing the deaf and hearing impaired.
“We take action to ensure that handset manufacturers can continue to release the newest handset models capable of achieving hearing aid compatibility by extending the enforcement of the technical standard transition period referenced in § 20.19(b) of our hearing aid compatibility rules by six months,” says a notice for Wednesday’s Federal Register. “We expect that during this … period handset manufacturers will abide by their commitment to include innovative new technologies in the handset models that they release which will benefit consumers, especially those with hearing loss,” the FCC said: “Continuing to allow new handset models to be certified as hearing aid-compatible is essential to moving towards the Commission’s commitment to attaining 100% hearing aid-compatibility of covered wireless handsets, as soon as achievable.”
The task force “carefully studied the issues" teed up by the commission and "forged consensus among many types of stakeholders,” said CTA, a task force member, in comments on the December report: The recommendations “incorporate valuable insights from consumer and hearing-health professional studies, market research and device testing.”
CTA cited an emphasis on the Bluetooth capability of most hearing aids. "Recent Bluetooth standards that enhance audio quality and allow for multi-streaming also have tremendous promise for consumers with hearing loss, both when using their phone and trying to listen in facilities that may have (or, critically, have not) installed inductive loop systems,” the group said. CTA noted the Food and Drug Administration recently finalized rules on over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids: “CTA championed the law that led to these rules and is excited to see the innovative OTCs already on the market and those that are going to be showcased at CES 2024.”
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group urged the FCC to recognize Bluetooth as a coupling method that will help reach commission goals. “Bluetooth technology is available in virtually all new smartphones manufactured today,” the group said: “Bluetooth can and does meet the needs of people with hearing loss today. It can and will continue to help the … telecommunications and hearing aid industries achieve the mandate for 100% hearing aid compatibility for users.”
Samsung Electronics America also supported the report. Samsung said getting to 100% compatibility “will require that all handsets contain a method for coupling to hearing aids based on magnetic (telecoil or T-Coil) and / or wireless (Bluetooth) capability.”