Wireless service providers (including de minimis wireless service providers) must file their annual Hearing Aid Compatibility Certifications with the FCC for the calendar year 2025 reporting period by Monday, February 2, 2026. FCC Form 855 will be available for completion and submission starting January 2, 2026 (the first business day after January 1) through February 2, 2026 by midnight ET (given that January 31, 2026 falls on a Saturday). The FCC Form 855 certification and instructions can be found here.

By the filing deadline, each wireless service provider must certify whether it has been in full compliance with the FCC’s hearing aid compatibility requirements throughout the prior calendar year.

Each certification must include the following information:

Name of the signing executive and their contact information;
Company(ies) covered by the certification;
FCC Registration Number (FRN);
Website address of the pages containing the required handset model information (for non-de minimis service providers); and
Percentage of handsets offered that are hearing aid compatible. Providers will derive this percentage by determining the number of hearing aid-compatible handsets offered across all air interfaces during the year divided by the total number of handsets offered during the year. The current deployment benchmark is 85%, however, please note that the FCC adopted the 100% benchmark requirement that will become effective for nationwide service providers after June 14, 2027 and for non-nationwide service providers, the 100% requirement will take effect after June 13, 2028.

If a service provider was not in full compliance with the hearing aid compatibility requirements throughout the relevant reporting period, the service provider must provide an explanation of the non-compliance.

Website Posting Requirement

(1) Each service provider that operates a publicly-accessible website must make available on its website a list of all hearing aid-compatible models currently offered, the ANSI standard used to evaluate hearing aid compatibility, the ratings of those models under the relevant ANSI standard, if applicable, and an explanation of the rating system. Each service provider must also include on its website: A list of all non-hearing aid-compatible models currently offered, as well as a link to the current FCC web page containing information about the wireless hearing aid compatibility rules and service providers’ obligations. Each service provider must also include the marketing model name/number(s) and FCC ID number of each hearing aid-compatible and non-hearing aid-compatible model currently offered.

(2) Service providers must maintain on their website either:
A link to a third-party website with information regarding hearing aid-compatible and non-hearing aid- compatible handset models; OR
A clearly marked list of hearing aid-compatible handset models that are no longer offered if the calendar month/year that model was last offered is within 24 months of the current calendar month/year.

(3) The information on the website must be updated within 30 days of any relevant changes, and any website pages containing information so updated must indicate the day on which the update occurred.

If you have any questions or require assistance with the Hearing Aid Compatibility Certification filing, please email Greg Whiteaker at [email protected] or Hilary Hoyle at [email protected].

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