it is understood that a single tone pair of tones or sequence if tones can be employed without departing from the scope of the present subject matter in one embodiment a unique dtmf tone or sequence is used to enter standby mode and another unique tone or sequence is used to enter normal operating mode in further embodiments the same message could be used to toggle between the modes in various embodiments the duration of a tone is used to change modes of the radio 118 in various embodiments the dtmf tones or sequence of tones is generated by a cellular phone or other telephone device the cellular phone may include a software or firmware application downloaded to it to convert the cell phone into a multi function remote that includes the capability of producing the necessary dtmf tones other platforms such as personal digital assistants pda 39 s computers or dedicated dtmf hardware equipped with audio outputs may be used to perform the remote control function when two hearing aids are worn by a user to ensure that both aids are enabled or disabled via dtmf it may be necessary to relay that information from one aid to the other via wireless transmissions prior to disabling the transmitter in one embodiment the hearing assistance device 110 may use the dtmf detection approach set forth in.