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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 84 / Tuesday, May 4, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
service providers flexibility in designing their own package labels and conveying supplemental information. Commenters uniformly support the Commissions proposal to streamline and modernize the labeling rule and to make labels, package inserts, and user manuals more informative, consumer-friendly, and less burdensome. The Commission addresses each of these requirements in turn below.
34. Package Label. Consistent with the NPRM, the Commission modifies 20.19f1i and ii to require a hearing aid-compatible handsets package label to expressly state that the handset is hearing aid-compatible and to quantify the handsets volume control capability if the handset is certified using the 2019 ANSI Standard. These requirements ensure that the most pertinent consumer information is placed on the handsets package label.
Consumers will be able to quickly ascertain whether a handset is hearing aid-compatible and to identify the handsets volume control capabilities if it is certified using the 2019 ANSI
Standard. Consumers who are interested in more detailed information about a handsets capabilities will be able to find this additional information in the user manual or package insert.
35. Section 20.19f1i of the Commissions current rule requires handset manufacturers and service providers to ensure that the package label for hearing aid-compatible handsets identifies the handset as hearing aid-compatible by displaying the handsets ANSI rating. We decline to adopt one commenters request to change the term hearing aidcompatible to telecoil or T-Coil in our rule. Such a change is unnecessary and may cause further confusion by specifying a single technology. Our use of hearing aids or hearing aid users refers to cochlear implants or users of cochlear implants. The Commissions revised rule maintains the requirement that handset manufacturers and service providers identify hearing aid-compatible handsets by requiring the package label to state that the handset is hearing aidcompatible. As proposed in the NPRM, the Commission moves the required disclosure of the ANSI rating from the package label to the package insert or user manual. The Commission makes this change in recognition of the fact that the 2019 ANSI Standard does not use the numerical M/T rating system of older standards. Under the new standard, a handset is assessed as either hearing aid-compatible or not without receiving a numerical rating.
Accordingly, the numerical ratings will
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become less relevant to consumers after the transition period. Further, consumers may not realize that a handset labeled as hearing aidcompatible but without a rating has actually been certified under a more recent testing standard that may provide a better listening experience than a handset with an M/T rating. The ANSI
Committee eliminated the numerical M/
T rating system to make purchasing a hearing aid-compatible handset more consumer friendly. Finally, handset manufacturers and service providers will be phasing-out handsets that have M/T ratings. The Commission did not receive any comments objecting to this approach. For these reasons, the Commission finds it is in the public interest to move the rating labeling requirement from the package label to the package insert or user manual.
Consistent with our current rule, we will continue to require that the ANSI
rating that is included in the package insert or user manual be the lowest rating the handset achieves if it has different ratings over its air interfaces or frequency bands.
36. Consistent with the Commissions proposal in the NPRM, it also requires a handsets package label to include the handsets volume control capabilities when the handset has been certified using the 2019 ANSI Standard. Because the 2019 ANSI Standard articulates certain details that are not reflected in the Commissions current volume control label requirement adopted in 2017, certain commenters have asked for clarification of the current volume control label requirement. Specifically, 20.19f1ii states that, if a handset has been certified as compliant with a technical standard that specifies acceptable numerical metrics or qualitative ratings for handset volume control, the labeling shall include the relevant volume control metrics or ratings. Samsung asks the Commission to clarify that a handset is compliant with the volume control label requirement if the label states that it provides over 6 dB of conversational gain. PCTEST states that, although it understands the benefits of Samsungs proposal, it would be better for consumers if the Commission required package labels to list the actual amount of conversational gain.
37. The Commission modifies its existing volume control label rule by removing the language regarding metrics and qualitative rating and replacing it with actual conversational gain testing results. The volume control standard that the Commission incorporates into its rules tests for volume control using a conversational gain standard that must
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be met both with and without hearing aids. Accordingly, the Commission requires handset manufacturers and service providers to include on a hearing aid-compatible handsets package label the handsets actual conversational gain both with and without hearing aids if the handset is certified using the 2019 ANSI Standard.
Consistent with 20.19f1ii, in cases where the actual conversational gain with a hearing aid differs depending on the air interfaces or frequency band being used, the package label should include the lowest actual conversational gain with a hearing aid. Having the actual conversational gain both with and without hearing aids on the package label will benefit consumers who use hearing aids and those who do not use hearing aids but have hearing loss.
38. Package Inserts and User Manuals. Consistent with the Commissions labeling proposal, the Commission requires handset manufacturers and service providers to include the following information in package inserts or user manuals for hearing aid-compatible handsets: 1
That the handset is hearing aidcompatible; 2 the ANSI standard used to determine the hearing aid compatibility of the handset models air interfaces and frequency bands; 3 if using the 2011 ANSI Standard or an earlier version of the standard, the lowest hearing aid compatibility rating assigned to any of the covered air interfaces or frequency bands; 4 the air interfaces or frequency bands on handsets that are not certified to be hearing aid-compatible, if applicable, or have been determined to be hearing aidcompatible under special testing circumstances; and 5 if a handset model was not certified as hearing aidcompatible over all of its air interfaces or frequency bands, a prescribed disclosure notifying consumers of this fact and that they should test the handset thoroughly and in different locations. In addition, consistent with the Commissions current labeling rule, package inserts and user manuals for hearing aid-compatible handsets must include an explanation of the ANSI
rating system as well as an explanation of a handsets volume control capabilities. Further, if an air interface has been determined to be hearing aidcompatible under special testing circumstances, the package insert or user manual must disclose this information to consumers and explain how this affects the use and operation of the handset.
39. Further, consistent with the Commissions proposal, it requires package inserts and user manuals to
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