NEWSReport No. DC 96-59 ACTION IN DOCKET CASE June 27, 1996 COMMISSION ADOPTS NEW RULES TO ENSURE TELEPHONE ACCESS BY PERSONS WITH HEARING DISABILITIES (CC DOCKET NO. 87-124) The Commission today adopted rules that will increase access by millions of Americans with hearing disabilities to telephones in workplaces, nursing homes, hospitals, and hotels and motels. These new rules represent the culmination of an innovative approach to rulemaking that has resulted in an Order addressing the needs of telephone users with hearing disabilities while minimizing the burden compliance will impose on business. The Order adopted by the Commission was based on recommendations of the Hearing Aid Compatibility (HAC) Negotiated Rulemaking Committee established by the Commission in March 1995. The Committee, whose members included organizations and individuals affected by the new rules, met and in just two months reached consensus on a report that was presented to the Commission in August 1995. The Commission adopted and released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking based on the Committee's recommendations in November 1995. The Commission today adopted the Committee's recommended rules, essentially as proposed. The new rules will help ensure that all wireline telephones in the workplace, in confined settings (e.g., hospitals, nursing homes), and in hotels and motels will be hearing aid compatible. The rules require no testing or retrofitting of existing workplace telephones. Instead, the rules set deadlines that are beyond the normal life-cycle times before which the telephones in these establishments are to be replaced. Consistent with the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, establishments with fewer than fifteen employees are exempt from these requirements. The rules also require volume control for newly acquired and replacement telephones in workplaces, confined settings, and hotels and motels as of November 1, 1998. The Order states that the volume control feature will assist many telephone users with hearing disabilities, whether or not they currently rely on telephones that are hearing aid compatible. Replacement or retrofitting for volume control is not required, and existing inventories of telephones will not be affected by the volume control requirement. For a telephone to be hearing aid-compatible, its receiver must contain an electro- magnetic coil that emits a magnetic field. This magnetic field, in turn, can be detected as sound by many hearing-aid wearers whose hearing aids have a similar electro-magnetic coil, called a tele-coil. About thirty percent of hearing aids have this feature. The Hearing Aid Compatibility Act of 1988 (HAC Act) requires that this magnetic coil be included in wireline telephones manufactured or imported for use in the U.S. after 1989, or after 1991 for cordless telephones. Without testing, however, it is not always clear whether a specific telephone is hearing aid compatible. The new rules do not require employers to test or retrofit their inventory of telephones, as they would have had to do under the suspended rules. Instead, employers can presume that their telephones are hearing aid compatible. In turn, an employee can challenge this presumption with a good faith request for a hearing aid compatible telephone. Upon receipt of such a request, the employer is required to replace any particular telephone that turns out not to be hearing aid compatible. In addition, as of April 1, 1997, manufacturers and importers must stamp new hearing aid compatible telephones with the letters "HAC," to indicate that the telephone is "hearing aid compatible." The new rules address wireline telephones only. Accessibility for wireless telephones will be addressed by the Commission in a separate proceeding. Action by the Commission June 27, 1996 by Report & Order (FCC 96-285). Chairman Hundt, Commissioners Quello, Ness, and Chong. -FCC- News media contact: Mindy J. Ginsburg at (202) 418-1500. Common Carrier Bureau contact: Greg Lipscomb at (202) 418-2340.