Hearing Aids Require New Cell Phones FCC Orders Changes in 3 Years
July 2003

By Yuki Noguchi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 11, 2003; Page E05

The Federal Communications Commission yesterday adopted rules requiring cell-phone makers and service providers to develop digital wireless phones that are more compatible with hearing aids used by about 6 million Americans.

More than 85 percent of cell phones now run on digital networks. Most of the technology used in those devices either emits too much noise to be used with a hearing aid or shuts off a part of the hearing aid that helps people hear.

Under the new FCC rules, within three years phone makers will have to develop at least two phones that do not shut off that part. The FCC also set a February 2008 deadline requiring at least half of phones to operate with less noise interference.

"A significant number of deaf people are not able to use a cell phone," said Karen Peltz Strauss, a former FCC official and a longtime advocate for the deaf and hard of hearing in telecommunications matters. Strauss said the population is aging and more and more people will be using hearing aids. "I think it's a start in the right direction. I'm really thrilled that the FCC has taken action," she said.

Under current rules, most conventional land-line telephones are required to be compatible with hearing aids, but as wireless phones become increasingly common, the expanded rules were necessary, said Chelsea Fallon, a spokeswoman for the FCC.

The FCC plans to publish a more complete order outlining more details of the rules in the Federal Register.

The cell-phone industry reacted to the new rules by saying it will cooperate with hearing-aid makers to develop more compatible products, but it voiced its objection to a rule that imposes specific requirements on wireless carriers.

"Today's FCC mandates will unnecessarily complicate this cooperation and constrain innovative solutions to meet this challenge," Tom E. Wheeler, president and chief executive of the Cellular Telecommunications &Internet Association, said in a statement.

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