On Thursday, the FCC approved new regulations requiring all phone manufacturers to make their handsets compatible with hearing aids. With the number of Americans 65 and older expected to increase by nearly 50% by 2050, the rules will ensure that people with hearing loss won’t have to worry about which phones will work with their hearing aids.

“Under the new rules, after a transition period, hearing-impaired Americans will no longer be limited in their choice of technologies, features and prices available in the mobile phone market,” the FCC wrote in a press release.

On the other hand, the FCC also imposed a requirement on hearing aid manufacturers prohibiting proprietary Bluetooth pairing standards in assistive devices and accessories. Phones therefore need to be compatible with hearing aids – and vice versa. The rule even applies to recently approved over-the-counter hearing aids, which now include AirPods Pro 2.

Other changes include requiring all new mobile phones sold in the United States to allow users to increase the volume without introducing distortion. Additionally, the FCC now requires point-of-sale cell phone labels to specify hearing aid compatibility and whether the handsets meet Bluetooth or telecoil pairing requirements.

The FCC worked with a consortium of wireless carriers, phone manufacturers and researchers to draft and adopt the rules. “Establishing a 100% hearing aid compatibility requirement for all mobile handsets was made possible through the collaborative efforts of members of the Hearing Aid Compatibility Working Group – an independent organization of service providers wireless, handset manufacturers, research institutes and advocates for the hearing impaired. », wrote the Commission. “Members of the task force worked together for several years to reach consensus on how the Commission could achieve its goal of requiring 100% of all mobile handsets to be hearing aid compatible.