WASHINGTON-The hearing-impaired community has asked the Federal Communications Commission to consider mandating hearing aid compatibility for digital mobile phones, saying the wireless industry has failed to adequately address the problem.
The FCC has requested comments on the petition by Dec. 8. Reply comments are due Jan. 8
The hearing-aid compatibility issue was first raised with the FCC in June 1995 in a petition seeking the revocation of an exemption for digital mobile phones under the Hearing Aid Compatibility Act of 1988.
Reed Hundt, then-chairman of the FCC, said delaying deployment of hearing-aid compatible mobile phones was not an option and directed the wireless industry to work with consumers, hearing health professionals and hearing-aid manufacturers to find a solution.
While progress was made in this effort, the hearing-impaired community says hearing-aid compatibility for digital mobile phones remains a big problem. Still awaiting approval is an industry standard to measure hearing-aid immunity and interference of digital wireless telephones.
“As more and more products are released at an incredible pace, hearing-aid wearers are lagging further and further behind,” said the Wireless Access Coalition, a group of hearing-impaired consumer organizations around the country.
The problem is that digital mobile phone interfere with hearing aids produces harsh, shrill sounds that are both annoying and uncomfortable to hearing-aid users.
The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association released reports in 1996 and 1998-conducted by the University of Oklahoma Center for the Study of Wireless Electromagnetic Compatibility-that found all three digital technologies (GSM, TDMA and CDMA) caused interference to many hearing aids.
CTIA could not be reached for comment.
WAC said there are 6 million hearing-aid users and 20,000 cochlear implant users in the United States
“As digital technology continues to advance, displacing other technologies, hearing aid and cochlear implant users face the prospect of finding ourselves marginalized from mainstream communication and the consequence of regressing to more dependent, less productive lives,” the WAC stated.
Since 1995, the disability access has become complicated by the push for hands-free devices to improve driver safety and reduce mobile phone radiation. Because mobile phone hearing-aid compatibility involves the use of separate accessories, it is not clear how hearing impaired individuals-as a practical matter-can use hands-free headsets and compatibility devices at one time.
