FCC Adopts New Wireless Hearing Aid Compatibility Benchmarks

August 5, 2016

The Federal Communications Commission (Commission) released a Report and Order that adopts new hearing aid compatibility (HAC) benchmarks applicable to wireless service providers and manufacturers of digital handsets (Order). These new benchmarks are largely consistent with a Joint Consensus Proposal submitted by three industry trade associations and three consumer advocacy organizations in November 2015. Although the Commission reconfirmed its commitment to reaching a 100 percent HAC requirement, it will wait until 2024 to make this determination. In the interim, the Commission set forth a process and timeline for stakeholders to submit information on this issue.

A summary of the Order is available here.