STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER JESSICA ROSENWORCEL

Re:	Revisions to Reporting Requirements Governing Hearing Aid-Compatible Mobile Handsets, WT Docket No. 17-228

	The National Institutes of Health reports that over 37 million adults have some trouble hearing and close to thirty million Americans could benefit from the use of hearing aids.  They are your friends, your relatives, and your neighbors.  An increasing number of them are veterans.  In fact, hearing problems are the most common service-connected difficulty experienced by those who have served and military personnel who are repeatedly exposed to gunfire and explosives face special risk.  

	So it was good news two years ago when this agency set out on a path to make sure all covered handsets offered by carriers will be hearing-aid compatible in the not-too-distant future.  In the meantime, we are taking steps to ensure our paperwork keeps up.  To this end, we eliminate the use of a dated form by which wireless providers demonstrate that their devices comply with our hearing-aid compatibility rules.  Instead, we require that more information be available to consumers online in a more accessible manner.  At the same time, we require carriers to certify compliance with our hearing aid compatibility requirements.

	This approach is modern and has my support.  I’d like to thank my colleagues for working with me to make sure that the information available online features a date and includes a link to this agency’s hearing-aid compatibility resources.  This will help those with difficulty hearing access information more easily about how to seek devices that meet their needs.

	Thank you to the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau for your work to make this happen.