December 23, 2000
In an effort to address the concerns of millions of hearing-impaired individuals, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is working with advocacy groups and wireless device manufacturers to develop products that do not cause interference with hearing aids and make it easier for everyone to use the latest technology.
The FCC collected ideas and suggestions from the hearing impaired and industry representatives this fall and is expected to give a response in early January regarding how to make digital mobile phones more accessible and how to reduce interference.
Organizations such as the Wireless Action Coalition (WAC) have petitioned the FCC to eliminate an exemption for wireless phones from the U.S. Hearing Aid Compatibility Act of 1988. According to the WAC, the FCC is obligated to review exemptions to this law every five years, but has not done so.
The gist of the WAC petition is to request that wireless phones be hearing-aid compatible under the same requirements as wired phones. The WAC is also calling for the sharing of information and collaboration between the makers of both wireless handsets and hearing aids.
The WAC was formed in response to concerns among its constituencies -- the 6 million hearing aid users and 20,000 cochlear implant recipients in the United States -- that they are being left behind by digital technology.
According to WAC member Self Help for Hard of Hearing People (SHHH), mobile phones transmit radio waves that create an electromagnetic field at the antenna, producing interference for people using hearing aids.
The WAC reports that its members and other consumers with hearing loss have "significant difficulty" finding digital wireless phones that they can use effectively. Mobile users with hearing aids or cochlear implants generally find that digital phones generate sound interference and lack the volume boost they need to communicate easily.
"Now is the time to have wireless phones subject to a law with more teeth so that people with hearing loss can use them and be assured of having access to an increasingly vital technology," the WAC stated. The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association is expected to establish standards for mobile phone makers that will ensure their devices do not interfere with hearing aids. Some companies, such as Nokia and Motorola, have developed headsets for the hearing impaired for use with their mobile phones.
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