Cutting the Phone Cord for the Hearing Loss Community
By Snyder, Michael; Hearing Loss Magazine, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 24-26Publication Date: January/February 2009
Article outlines the development of a new standard for digital cordless telephones which makes them accessible to people with T-Coil equipped hearing aids and cochlear implants. Coordinated by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), development of the standard combined the efforts of research scientists at Gallaudet University, community groups including Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA), and legislative and regulatory experts working with Congress. The working group identified the noise interference encountered by hearing-aid wearers when using cordless telephones as being magnetic. Subsequent tests were made on a number of cordless telephones, both in laboratories and with participants at the 2005 HLAA Convention. At the Convention in 2006, testing to help quantify the signal-to-noise ratios needed by hearing-aid users employing T-Coil coupling from cordless phones was conducted. The resulting standard, TIA-1083 Telecommunications Telephone Terminal Equipment Handset Magnetic Measurement Procedures and Performance Requirements, was published in 2007. A TIA mark which helps identify a product as “hearing-aid friendly” appears on the boxes of cordless phones that are compliant with the new standard. At the time the article was written, Panasonic, Uniden, and VTech had been licensed to place the mark on their products.
Published by: Hearing Loss Association of America (formerly Self Help for Hard of Hearing People) (Website:http://www.hearingloss.org)
