AISP.4-HAC

ATIS Incubator Solutions Program 4

Hearing Aid Compatibility

Mission, Scope, Objectives, and Requirements

Mission Statement: The ATIS Incubator Solutions Program #4 (AISP.4), mission is to investigate performance between hearing aids (HAs) and Wireless Device (WDs) to determine methods of enhancing interoperability and usability for consumers with hearing aids.

Scope: The hearing aid and digital wireless industries have complexities and challenges in attempting to make their products compatible. Through an open and impartial consensus process, AISP.4 will investigate and develop recommendations for standards for measuring hearing aid immunity, magnetic coupling, and interference caused by WDs. AISP.4 will begin by baselining modified ANSI C63.19 to determine if the standard, with consensus changes applied accurately predicts end user usability. AISP.4 will also re-assess the technical parameters and test methods in C63.19. AISP.4 will communicate its findings to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and provide American National Standards Institute (ANSI)-accredited standards committee C63 with recommended changes to C63.19 as appropriate. AISP.4 will also serve as an incubator for investigating methods of hearing aid immunity, magnetic coupling and HA interference.

Objectives: AISP.4 will work diligently and expeditiously to accomplish the following objectives: ANSI C-63.19

• Conduct testing in accordance with ANSI C63.19 in order to establish baseline data.
• Determine the repeatability and reproducibility of ANSI C63.19 testing and, as necessary, recommend modifications to test procedures to enhance repeatability and reproducibility.
• Generally assess ANSI C63.19 to determine changes that will improve the standard to the benefit of the wireless telecommunications industry, the hearing aid industry, and ultimately consumers with hearing aids. For example:
  • Reduction in number of test points for HA Implement FFT method of measuring Frequency Response for T-coil
  • Move to a straight A-weighted Signal to Noise measurement
• Working with ANSI-accredited standards committee C63, determine how best to communicate ANSI C63.19 findings to the user community.

FCC R&O Requirements

• Incubator members may work through the AISP.4-HAC to submit joint status reports to the FCC per the R&O reporting requirements.

• Investigate communications channels to disseminate the findings of the AISP.4-HAC (e.g., FCC, FDA, CTIA, HIA, AAA and ASHA).

Other Objectives

• Develop an online library or repository for hearing aid compatibility technical literature.

• Develop appropriate liaisons with consumers, researchers and professionals in the area of hearing loss.

• Accelerate accreditation of testing laboratories (ISO-IEC17025) that can test using ANSI C63-19 including those qualified to do the assessment in conjunction with the FCC and FDA processes.

• Identify the specific properties of WDs and HAs that directly affect the interoperability and usability of these devices.

• Identify sources of hearing aid-related interference emanating from WDs and identify variables that contribute to such interference.

• Identify forms of internal coupling that provide equivalent facilitation and objective measures of them.

For information about membership in AISP.4-HAC, please contact Jim Turner at 630-972-1454 or send an email to jturner@atis.org.