The gist is the FCC is establishing a Bluetooth pairing requirement, thereby discouraging smartphone makers from using proprietary versions that could limit compatibility. In a pr

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ruled that all smartphones will soon need to work with all Bluetooth hearing aids, and vice versa, so that people with hearing loss don't have to worry about compatibility issues.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Thursday issued rules requiring that all mobile phones — including smartphones — sold in the U.S. be compatible with hearing aids. The news comes two years after the FDA made hearing aids available to all Americans without a prescription.

The FCC has mandated that every phone sold in the US must be compatible with hearing aids. The commission also requires both Android OEMs and Apple to abandon proprietary Bluetooth standards that could interfere with hearing aid compatibility.

The FCC has announced new requirements for all smartphones to be compatible with all Bluetooth hearing aids, and one