Consumer Groups Want Limited Extension of Hearing-Aid Compatibility Waiver
Industry commenters broadly supported a CTIA petition asking the FCC to extend a temporary waiver that allows use of the interim volume control testing method for hearing-aid compatibility (HAC) compliance (see 2507020051). Groups representing consumers said any additional waiver must be limited and come with “safeguards and guardrails.” The current waiver expires Sept. 29.
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A multi-stakeholder HAC Task Force recommended in its report that the commission adopt the original interim waiver in 2023. Comments were posted last week and Monday in dockets 23-388 and 20-3 (see 2507180063).
Groups representing consumers said any waiver extension should be no longer than an additional year, “tied to transparent benchmarks, including updates,” and provide for “consumer input in development and finalization of the final test methodology.” The filing was endorsed by the Hearing Loss Association of America, Deaf Equality, the National Association of the Deaf, TDIforAccess and the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
CTIA “cites the need for regulatory clarity and certainty for industry,” the consumer groups said. “Consumers, too, need clarity and certainty, especially when selecting phones that are labeled as ‘hearing aid compatible.’” If a device carries HAC labeling, “it must reliably deliver on that promise,” they said. “It must serve both industry and the public equally.”
The Consumer Technology Association said the current waiver is based on a “consensus solution” to problems with the 2019 ANSI standard volume control methodology. The HAC Task Force “identified that the volume control testing methodology, as incorporated by the Commission into the rules, represented a flawed testing framework that previously had not been tested in the real world because testing equipment was not yet available when the standard was adopted,” CTA said. “Importantly, the [task force] also developed an interim volume testing solution to ensure that wireless handsets could be tested to demonstrate compliance with the main components of the 2019 ANSI Standard: RF immunity, inductive coupling, and volume control.”
Consumers, including those who use hearing aids or cochlear implants, “enjoy and rely upon the capabilities provided by a steady stream of ever-more-innovative devices,” NCTA said. “Extension of the waiver period will ensure that these needs are met and that individuals with hearing loss continue to receive the highest quality offerings while stakeholders and the Commission work to implement and codify a new volume testing standard.”
Samsung Electronics also called on the FCC to extend the waiver, which “ensures that Samsung, and those that offer our wireless handsets, are supplying wireless handsets that provide all of the benefits of the 2019 ANSI Standard, including increased RF immunity, better telecoil coupling, and, for the first time, objectively tested volume control.”