When Danny Lacey, a financial adviser, got ready to get on a statewide conference call, he looked at his laptop computer, a communications assistant appeared through Lacey's Web camera. He then watched the operators relay the conference call to him in sign language. Lacey signed to the operator his questions and those questions were relayed verbally to the hundreds of others on the call.
Lacey was using a Video Relay Service that allows people with hearing impairment to hold phone conversations. This system allows people to send typed questions and answer on their laptop computer or personal digital assistant to a person hired by the phone company who speaks the written words to those on the other end of the phone line.
Users have found the video system effective because it can transfer the mood of the user as well as the words. It also requires no typing, eliminated delays, and allows users to sign rather than depend on the English language.
Until recently, a teletype (TTY) machine was used by people with deafness to communicate by phone. Now, the VRS system lets people with deafness communicate with more ease and less expense than the TTY and other methods.
Sprint and AT&T have been at the forefront of deaf telecommunications on the Web. That is because they had exclusive contracts with state agencies to supply TTY. Users only have to pay for long-distance charges.
Other services are:
Internet Telecommunications Relay Service: After logging on, users punch computer keys to dial a number that connects them to an operator who converts written messages in spoken words. Users can punctuate their sentences with symbols such as a smile or sad face. The entire conversation also can be printed as a transcript.
PCS Vision Service: Using a specialized phone, users can make calls on a personal digital assistant through the Internet as they would a laptop computer. Users pay wireless service charges plus the cost of long-distance phone calls.
Invisible liaison: Users can instruct the operator to call them, then use the conference button on the phone to dial their party. The operator's job is to is type what the hearing caller says onto a Web box.
Speech-to-speech services: Users talk to a communications assistant who enunciates the message clearly to the other on the call. #1156
Robitaille, S. (2002, October 9). New telecom connections for the deaf; Web-based technology is giving hearing-impaired people more options to communicate more effectively with everyone. Retrieved October 15, 2002, from www.businessweek.com.
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