Hearing Loss News and More

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is reversing a decision that gave religious broadcasters an exemption to an FCC rule requiring closed captioning for the deaf and hearing impaired. Broadcasters currently exempt from providing closed captioning have 90 days to comply, or obtain another exemption. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 required the FCC to establish a suitable timetable by which televisionbroadcasters and equipment manufacturers would be required to provide closed captioning, or a text transcription of the program provided for those who are deaf or hearing impaired. The FCC required broadcasters to fulfill the closed captioning requirement by January 2006, but gave an exemption, called the "Anglers' Order," to small and medium sized religious broadcasters.