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Hearing Aid Compatibility

About Hearing Aid Compatibility

To ensure accessibility for the deaf and hard of hearing to the use of digital wireless devices, the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") made updates to the Hearing Aid Compatibility ("HAC") Act of 1988 to increase the number of HAC compliant wireless devices on the market.

HAC Rating System

The American National Standard Institute ("ANSI") has developed hearing aid compatibility rating standard C63.19 to provide assistance to hearing device users in finding the right digital wireless device to purchase.  Standard C63.19 provides a uniform method for measuring the radio frequency ("RF") immunity and telecoil coupling strength of hearing aids, as well as the RF emissions and telecoil coupling strength of wireless devices.  The measurements are converted to a microphone ("M") rating and a telecoil ("T") rating.  Customers can use the ratings to predict the compatibility of a particular digital wireless handset and a hearing aid. 

M-Ratings:  Wireless devices rated M3 or M4 meet FCC requirements and are likely to generate less interference to hearing devices that utilize a microphone for picking up sounds from the handset's speaker.  M4 is the higher of the two ratings.

T-Ratings:  Wireless devices rated T3 or T4 meet FCC requirements and are likely to be more usable with a hearing device's telecoil (a/k/a "T Switch" or "Telephone Switch") than unrated wireless devices.  T4 is the higher of the two ratings.  The advantage of a telecoil is that it removes extraneous noise that would otherwise be picked up by a microphone. 

Hearing Device Immunity

Hearing devices may also be measured for immunity to interference.  To learn if a digital wireless handset may interfere with a particular hearing aid, the immunity rating of the hearing aid is added to the rating of the digital handset.  A sum of four would indicate that the telephone is usable; a sum of five would indicate that the telephone would provide normal use; and a sum of six or greater would indicate that the telephone would provide excellent performance with that hearing aid.

Levels of Functionality

CWC is consistently looking for ways to offer a full line up of hearing aid compliant handsets.  In doing so, the company strives to ensure that its customers can choose from a diverse array of functions and capabilities that are similar to the non-HAC handsets the company sells, and that each compliant handset is reasonably priced.  The company does this by looking at available and soon-to-be-available handsets first to determine whether they are hearing aid compliant and what ANSI C3.19 standard they meet.  Once verified, the company also considers the types and combinations of features it already offers and how the new handset's features would complement the company's existing line of products and whether its customers will continue to demand those features in the future.  The company also considers the price of the handsets, taking into consideration the need of customers at all levels of income

* All pricing subject to change.