Pocket offers a number of phones that are certified as "Hearing Aid Compatible" or "HAC." The HAC ratings, and a brief description of what the ratings mean, will be on the outside of the handset box and included with the information inside the box.

 

Microphone Standard

Handsets that receive a hearing aid compatibility rating of M3 or M4 have met or surpassed the ANSI hearing aid compatibility standard as adopted by the Federal Communications Commission. The higher the M-rating the handset has the lower the Radio Frequency emissions level and higher signal quality the handset will have. If there is no M-rating then the handset does not meet the ANSI standard. The handset’s M-rating along with a hearing aid’s M-rating will assist customers in finding a handset that will work best for them. The hearing aid must be in microphone mode in order to replicate the mode that was used with the handset when the rating was achieved.

• M3-rating indicates the handset has satisfied the ANSI standard
• M4-rating indicates the handset has exceeded the ANSI standard

 

Telecoil Standard:

The telecoil rating is in reference to telecoils in some hearing aids, the telecoil is a small device that is built into some hearing aids for use with the telephone as well as assistive listening devices. Not all hearing aids have telecoils. The telecoil picks up magnetic fields generated by telephones and converts these fields into sound. Telecoils are particularly useful for telephone communication because they permit the volume control of a hearing aid to be turned up without creating feedback or "whistling," and background noise can be reduced, especially when using cell phones in noisy places. To use the telecoil, generally, either the hearing aid is switched to the "T" position or a button on the hearing aid is pushed to select the telecoil setting.

Handsets that receive a telecoil rating of a T3 or T4 have met or surpassed the required standard as adopted by the Federal Communications Commission.

• T3-rating indicates the handset has satisfied the ANSI standard
• T4-rating indicates the handset has exceeded the ANSI standard

Pocket Communications offers handsets in all three tier categories including good, better, best functionality per our operational capabilities.