Hearing Aid Compliance Rules

The FCC is plugging a loophole in its rules that have allowed phone makers like Apple to make millions of iPhones that escape the Commission’s Hearing Aid Compliance rules. That technicality has been solved by the agency’s expansion of its list devices covered by its Hearing Aid Compliance rules. Manufacturers will have 12 months to bring themselves into compliance. The Commission has also proposed extending the rules to cover emerging technologies such as VoIP over WiFi. For years, the Commission has required equipment manufacturers to make a certain percentage of hearing aid compliant handsets available to the public. Some carriers have gotten five-figure fines for falling a few phones short or failing to file a required report.