Palm Pre Rated M4 for Hearing Aids, No T-Coil Rating 14
Earlier this week I was having a conversation with Greg, discussing whether or not the Palm Pre would be hearing aid compatible. There are various ways of rating phones for their compatibility with hearing aids including both "M" and "T" ratings. The M is for "microphone" and measures how a phone will work with a hearing aid in the standard microphone setting. The T is for "t-coil" and measures interference in that mode. Greg explains it better:
The M rating is to strictly use the hearing aid microphone which is far from ideal and for that reason I regard phones with only m ratings as not hearing aid compatible. T-coil in hearing aids use magnetic induction to pick up sound transmissions from phone so the connection is much much better and clearer (and louder!). The problem is if the phone is not t-coil compatible the person will hear a loud buzzing noise instead of sound due to interference
Well if the box above from yesterday's leak is to be believed, it looks like, as with many (most) other smartphones, the Palm Pre won't support Telecoil, but it does have the higest possible M rating: M4. So if you use a hearing aid, you'll be switching to microphone mode if you want to chat on the Pre.
14 Comments
I wonder how those ratings apply to a Cochlear implant? My sister has one and would like to start using a blackberry or Treo as a phone. I'm sure she'll try mine when I get the Pre.
I'm not an expert, but I believe that these implants primarily use T-Coils?
Hell, my knowledge of Cochlear implants starts and stops with the last episode of House. :-/
Yeah, but who know you could rip them out of your head? ;}
Just curious, but does anyone know how the BB Curve or the iPhone are rated?
Well I will have to say this - 2 buddies of mine got the Palm Pre yesterday and I am THRILLED to announce that the Palm Pre is hearing aid/cochlear compatible. There was no interference or whatsoever in both M or T. So granted they probably never really tested the T rating. So as soon as some more come in - I'm heading out to buy one! It is an awesome toy!
Billy, How did the Pre or Pre Plus work with your hearing aids? I have BTE aids and use T coil almost exclusively. the local Verizon store are such morons, they have the pre plus on display.. With a dead battery and I have been in there twice and asked them to fix it.. To No avail.
THe palm Pixi works great with my aids, but I would really like the larger screen slide keyboard, etc.
Let me know what you found out.
I have have cochlear implants, so t-coil compatibility is critical.
I can tell you from personal experience that the Palm Pre t-coil compatibility is phenomenal! Position the top of the screen near the induction loop inside your hearing aid or cochlear implant. The location makes for easy use with t-coil, especially with the screen slid open. With some trial and error you will find the sweet spot.
In response to the iPhone comment, the real issue for t-coil users is AT&T's network (GSM). Sprint and Verizon's networks (CDMA/TDMA) cause much less electromagnetic interference with t-coil. I had terrible experiences using the original and second generation iPhone with my cochlear implants. When the iPhone 3GS came out, I was pleasantly surprised to discover it managed to shield some (though not all) of the network's magnetic interference, and its t-coil compatibility is decent, though not as good as the Palm Pre. I haven't tried an iPhone 4 yet.