107
Sa
fe
ty
11. Wha
t about wir
ele
ss phone
int
erfer
ence with medical
equipment?
R
adio F
requency (RF) ener
gy
fr
om wir
ele
ss phone
s can int
er
act
with some electr
onic de
vice
s. F
or
this r
ea
son, the FD
A helped
de
velop a de
tailed t
est me
thod
to
mea
sur
e Electr
o Magne
tic
Int
er
fer
ence (EMI) of implant
ed
car
diac pacemak
er
s and
defibrilla
to
rs
fr
om wir
ele
ss
telephone
s. This t
est me
thod is
no
w par
t of a st
andar
d
sponsor
ed b
y the A
ssocia
tion for
the A
dv
ancement of Medical
Instrument
ation (AAMI). The
final dr
aft, a joint effor
t b
y the
FD
A, medical de
vice
man
ufactur
er
s, and man
y o
ther
gr
oups, w
as comple
ted in la
te
2
000. This st
andar
d will allo
w
man
ufactur
er
s t
o ensur
e tha
t
car
diac pacemak
er
s and
defibrilla
to
rs
ar
e safe fr
om
wir
ele
ss phone EMI.
The FD
A ha
s t
est
ed hearing aids
for int
er
fer
ence fr
om handheld
wir
ele
ss phone
s and helped
de
velop a v
olunt
ary st
andar
d
sponsor
ed b
y the Institut
e of
Electrical and Electr
onic
Engineer
s (IEEE). This st
andar
d
specifie
s t
est me
thods and
per
formance r
equir
ement
s for
hearing aids and wir
ele
ss phone
s
so tha
t no int
er
fer
ence occur
s
when a per
son use
s a
“compa
tible” phone and a
“compa
tible” hearing aid a
t the
same time. This st
andar
d w
as
appr
ov
ed b
y the IEEE in 2
000.
The FD
A contin
ue
s t
o monit
or
the use of wir
ele
ss phone
s for
possible int
er
actions with o
ther
medical de
vice
s. Should harmful
int
er
fer
ence be found t
o occur
,
the FD
A will conduct t
esting t
o
asse
ss the int
er
fer
ence and w
ork
to
r
esolv
e the pr
oblem.
