DAMAX International says that hearing aid compatibility (HAC) tests conducted by APREL Laboratories in Ottawa, Canada, showed GSM and CDMA handsets equipped with DAMAX's new directional antennas scored U4, the highest hearing aid compatibility rating under the new ANSI/IEEE C63.19 standards. The same model handsets with their original antennas tested at U1 (GSM) and U2 (CDMA), the two lowest ratings.
The FCC ruled in August that 25% of all cellphones sold in the U.S. in two years, and 50% in five years must be hearing aid compatible. However, according to George Antoon, a veteran executive with Fortune 500 retailers and DAMAX VP of retail sales, "The new antennas can be installed in existing model phones today, not two years from now, and can be designed into all new model phones at costs similar to that of most current handset antennas."
"Six million Americans use hearing aids and two million new aids are sold annually in the U.S. , including 630,000 to first time buyers," said David Woodbury, a former top hearing industry official and DAMAX VP of business development and industry relations. "We can deliver tens of thousands of new subscribers to any carrier willing to step up to the plate now because hearing aid wearers want to be able to use new digital hearing aid compatible phones now," said Woodbury.
DAMAX antennas benefit carriers in other ways. Tests by ETS Lindgren, a CTIA certified lab show the antennas make up to four times more handset power normally lost in the body available to cell sites for carriers to use. By reducing energy loss to the body FCC tests also show the directional antennas deliver substantial reductions in SAR below the 1.6 watts per kilogram FCC limit.
ZK Celltest, a provider of drive test equipment and services for carriers nationwide tested DAMAX on GSM and CDMA networks in the San Francisco Bay area. ZK tests show the DAMAX equipped handsets performed as well or better than same model unmodified handsets in 100-mile drive tests through urban, dense urban, suburban, and rural environments."
Posted to the site on 8th October 2003
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/9873.php