Parties Back FCC's HAC Wireline Proposals, Mixed on Wireless, Consumer Proposals

FCC proposals to change hearing aid compatibility rules for wireline devices drew support, but there were mixed views on proposed HAC rule changes for wireless devices and consumer group participation in a compliance standards process. Every party filing comments in docket 13-46 backed a proposal to adopt a revised standard (the 2012 ANSI Wireline Volume Control Standard) developed by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) that the FCC in an NPRM said “appears likely” to help people with hearing loss select wireline phones “with sufficient volume control” to meet their needs while giving industry greater regulatory certainty. (TIA is accredited with the American National Standards Institute, ANSI.) Most commenters (an ANSI committee was silent) also backed a proposal to apply wireline volume control and other HAC requirements to handsets used for VoIP services, pursuant to the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act. “Any technology requirements for wireline phones should apply to [customer premises equipment] VoIP phones as well,” said Georgia Tech’s Center for Advanced Communications Policy and the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for Wireless Technologies. TIA said it supports the wireline changes only to the extent that it proposed in a petition it filed. Several commenters generally supported an FCC proposal to set a volume control standard for wireless handsets “to ensure more effective acoustic coupling between handsets and hearing aids or cochlear implants,” but TIA “discouraged” such regulation, saying it “would be duplicative of existing features and requirements." The ANSI committee (ANSI ASC C63®), the Hearing Industries Association (here) and the consumer groups also supported a proposal to require manufacturers to exclusively use an ANSI committee standard (ANSI C63.19-2011) “to certify future handsets as hearing aid compatible.” A proposal to "simplify" the ANSI standard-setting process for HAC compliance and include consultation with “consumer stakeholders” was particularly controversial. The consumer groups were supportive, but the ANSI committee said the FCC shouldn’t designate consumer representatives; TIA said it was concerned about aspects of the proposed consumer consultations, including the precedent it would set; and the Hearing Industries Association said the current ANSI standard-setting process was sufficient. Replies are due March 28.