For Immediate Release
ATIS 1200 G Street, NW Suite 500 Washington, DC 20005	Contact: Trish Gessner Phone: 202-434-8851 E-mail: tgessner@atis.org www.atis.org

ATIS Files Hearing Aid Compatibility Status Report on Behalf of Industry

May 18, 2005, Washington – ATIS filed its Hearing Aid Compatibility (HAC) Status Report #3 with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Tuesday on behalf of 36 participating industry members of the ATIS HAC Incubator. The report, submitted in lieu of individual status reports, details collective inputs on the efforts wireless handset device manufacturers and service providers are undertaking to comply with the FCC HAC requirements as listed in the FCC Report and Order (“R&O”) 03-168.

The Incubator has performed extensive work and believes that wireless manufacturers generally will meet the regulatory requirements defined by the FCC’s R&O for two HAC-compliant products per air interface (GSM, CDMA, iDEN, TDMA) pursuant to the CR63.19 standard by the September 2005 deadline. However, the wireless industry has recently documented several challenges to achieving FCC-required HAC compatibility measurements for GSM handset devices operating in the 850 MHz frequency band.  This reported challenge appears to be industry-wide. 

Due to numerous variables in hearing aid devices, individuals with hearing loss, and wireless devices, many carriers allow a “try before you buy” period that allows a consumer to use a wireless device for a trial period before making a final purchase.

Working groups of the ATIS HAC Incubator are addressing areas of particular concern and will promote collaboration moving forward:

• Working Group 4 (WG4) -- Test Plan. Possible causes for variability of test results of round robin testing using a variety of wireless devices in multiple labs were uncovered and resolved. Details were submitted to the IEEE for inclusion in the C63.19-2005 draft. A second round of testing using the updated criteria is underway. Results will be included in the next status report.
• Working Group 6 (WG6) -- Labeling and Consumer Outreach. WG6 has developed educational materials and consumer labels to denote compatibility between phones and types of hearing aid devices. It is actively petitioning the FCC to clarify labeling inconsistencies between the C63.19-2001 Standard and the C63.19-2005 draft. The 2005 version of labels is consistent with the switches on hearing aids, which specify “M” for microphone and “T” for T-Coil.
• Working Group 8 (WG8) -- Articulation Weighting Factor (AWF). WG8 was established by the Incubator to establish a direct computational method to determine the AWF, a value used to predict the potential for audible interference due to modulation rate and duty cycle factors. WG8 intends to create a simple, cost effective, reproducible method for determining the AWF for new technologies based on psychoacoustic correlation.  It is intended that findings of this WG8 study will be submitted as a supplement to the C63.19 standard to eliminate ambiguity in AWF determination.  
• Working Group 9 (WG9) -- 850 MHz and Higher Power Challenges. The hearing aid and digital wireless industries have complexities and challenges in attempting to make their products compatible. The WG9 will explore these challenges for GSM and other 850 MHz bands and document its findings so that all parties have a clearer understanding of the complexities involved.

Through the Incubator’s testing and analyses, manufacturers have highlighted several complexities and challenges in efforts to make their products compatible with the measurement standard defined in C63.19.  Recommendations were made to the IEEE’s C63 subcommittee, and as a result several were included in C63.19-2005 update, which is currently pre-published by IEEE and awaiting certification by the American National Standard Institute.

The ATIS HAC Incubator is composed of technical experts from the wireless and hearing aid industries, as well as representatives for consumer advocacy and disability groups.

About ATIS

ATIS is a technical planning and standards development organization that is committed to rapidly developing and promoting technical and operations standards for the communications and related information technologies industry worldwide using a pragmatic, flexible and open approach. Participants from more than 350 communications companies are active in ATIS’ 22 industry committees and Incubator Solutions Program. www.atis.org

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