Texting can put up with the delay through a satellite. GSM for example, has a range limitation because of the time it takes the signal to reach the base station - from memory about 40 or 50 km.
Just to help matters, there are hearing aids with radio transceivers in them. I helped with systems engineering of an integrated circuit for that application, and also for radio transceivers in pacemakers - over 500,000 of them in use world wide. Bit hard to turn those off, of course, but the power is very low - in both cases, under 1 mW. Plus, if the pacemaker transmits while in an aircraft, it's because there's a cardiac emergency.