Path: ...!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: db <dieterhansbritz@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.mobile.android
Subject: Re: The FCC will soon require all hearing aids and phones to work
 together
Date: Sun, 20 Oct 2024 11:11:04 -0000 (UTC)
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
Lines: 47
Message-ID: <vf2og8$cq5g$1@dont-email.me>
References: <vespk8$1ijh8$1@paganini.bofh.team>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Injection-Date: Sun, 20 Oct 2024 13:11:05 +0200 (CEST)
Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="b2939e4433a4e571a3c26136e06ad943";
	logging-data="420016"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org";	posting-account="U2FsdGVkX19cxMylQqbZw+wKYT7ER0tWmJ8itR+zypg="
User-Agent: Pan/0.149 (Bellevue; 4c157ba)
Cancel-Lock: sha1:TLDfz6z1jhjasxW9yHtToH+VVQc=
Bytes: 3203

On Fri, 18 Oct 2024 06:53:28 +0200, Quincy the fifth wrote:

> The FCC will soon require all hearing aids and phones to work together
> 
> After a transition period, all phones will be required to work with
> hearing aids - and vice versa.
> 
> On Thursday, the FCC approved new regulations requiring all phone makers
> to make their handsets compatible with hearing aids. With the number of
> Americans 65 and older expected to balloon by nearly 50 percent by 2050,
> the rules will ensure those with hearing loss don't have to worry about
> which phones will work with their hearing aids.
> 
> "Under the new rules, after a transition period, Americans with hearing
> loss will no longer be limited in their choice of technologies,
> features,
> and prices available in the mobile handset marketplace," the FCC wrote
> in a press release.
> 
> On the flip side, the FCC also passed a requirement for hearing aid
> makers that effectively bans proprietary Bluetooth coupling standards in
> the assistive devices. So, phones must be compatible with hearing aids -
> and vice versa. The rule even applies to the recently approved
> over-the-counter hearing aids, which now include AirPods Pro 2.
> 
> Other changes include requiring all new mobile handsets sold in the US
> to let users raise the volume without introducing distortion. In
> addition, the FCC now mandates that cell phones' point-of-sale labels
> clarify hearing aid compatibility and whether the handsets meet
> Bluetooth or telecoil coupling requirements.

Don't all modern mobile phones have Bluetooth? So it is up
to hearing aids to have that capability.
I got hearing aids about five years ago, expecting just
that, but was pleasantly surprised at the bonus feature
of  Bluetooth, so that all sound made by the phone goes
straight into my ears, and to answer a phone call all I have
to do is to press a small button on the hearing aid and I
never need to pick up the phone, as long as it's within a few
meters- wonderfull. On long walks I can listen to music I have
put on my phone.

The small downside is that if I misplace my phone, I can't ask
my wife to ring me, to locate it. The only ring tone is in my ears.

-- 
db