Hearing Aid

The Hearing Aid Compatibility Act of 1988 says that the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) ensures that all the telephones that are imported or manufactured for use in USA must essentially be hearing aid compatible. After the August of 1989, hearing aid telephone compatibility was made imperative for all telephones.

This act has been applied to all the essential telephones such as the telephones operated by coins or supplied for emergency use. The act is also applicable to other telephones that are required frequently by persons who use hearing aids. These telephones include telephones in nursing homes and hospitals (confined settings), motel and hotel rooms and workplace telephones. Only the telephones that are used with private radio and public mobile services have been exempted from the act.

The Federal Communications Commission suggests that a hearing aid compatible telephone has an internal feature that would allow the usage of telephone compatible hearing aids. However, telephones mostly vary in their ability to produce a magnetic field that is good and can be picked up by hearing aids easily. That is why the combination of poor quality and a weak induction coil make the telephone produce very poor results.

This is one of the reasons why rules under the act also require that the telephones produce a magnetic field that has sufficient quality and strength that would permit the telephone to couple with hearing aids that incorporate telecoils.

A telecoil is a tightly wrapped, small wire piece that after being activated picks up the signals of voice from the electromagnetic field that leak from the hearing aid compatible telephones. The people who use the hearing aids that are equipped with telecoils are able to effectively communicate over the telephone without having to suffer from feedback and amplification of unwanted noise from the background.

The Federal Communications Commission also states that all essential telephones must also be able to provide a range of volume that is adequate for even those who have nerve deafness norm. The feature of volume control must permit the user to adjust the sound level that emanates from the receiver of the headset or handset.

The volume control feature must also allow telephones to be effectively used by those people who wear listening devices and also by those who suffer from hearing impairment. This way, all those people who suffer from a hearing disability but do not use a device can experience the benefits of the telephone.

With the application of the Hearing Aid Compatibility Act, it has been quite successful for the Federal Communications Commission to make hearing aid telephone compatible devices available for users who suffer from hearing disabilities.

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