Telephone Solutions for Persons
with Hearing Impairments
More than 24 Million people in the United States have a hearing loss which can hinder daily communication. This invisible condition affects us and everyone around us - our family, friends and co-workers. Few people today are not touched in some way by heairng loss.
-excerpted from Self Help for Hard of Hearing People, Inc.
The information presented below represents a cross-sectional overview of the products available to the deaf and hard of hearing population. Telephone products for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing have been in existence for many years. Bell Atlantic has been a leader in the area of focus groups and consumer advisory panels which have consisted of a true cross section of the population. The consumer advisory panels have included representatives from the deaf and hard of hearing communities as well as other consumers with disabilities' input.
As previously stated, the existence of these devices is not new and there are many products from which to choose. The scope of this document is not to catalog all products but rather to provide an overview of the types of solutions available and provide information about where to go to find these products.
For those who are new to the area of text-based communication devices following is a brief description of how it works and what a typical conversation would look like.
When a typical voice based telephone is used the audible information is converted into electrical information so that it can travel throught the lines to the destination where it is converted back into audible information. For text based communication systems the conversion is transferred to the user not the technology. The user must translate his or her thoughts to text format and type it out on the keyboard. The listener must be able to read the message at the other end, agin providing the means of translation. In this simplest of descriptions we are leaving out the technicalities if electrical transfer but that aspect should work in the background and need not concern the user. Text based systems can be either stand-alone or computer based. Either way the user needs the ability to type and read.
The categories these products are divided into are computer based adaptations and stand-alone devices. Additionally, a listing of manufacturers and other points of interest to the consumer.
This list is in no way intended as an endorsement of the products
or manufacturers by LINC or Bell Atlantic.
The following 18 links contain information on telecommunications for the deaf.
- Intelemodem
- Lite Touch
- SmartModem 85
- Super Print 400 Text Telephone
- Teleview 80, 80T, 80TDD
- TeleTalker
- ToneTalk & ToneTalker
- Uniphone
- Cellular Phones and TTY
- Fact Sheet: Using your Modem as a TTY
- Dove Fax / TTY Modem
- MicroFlip TTY internal card for PC
- NexCom 14.4K Modem & TTY / TDD
- Futura TTY software
- Video Conferencing
- Internet Video Phone
- Resources and Organizations
Follow this LINK to a comprehensive Searchable index of assistive technology:
AbleData: http://trace.wisc.edu/search
Some of the information contained herein was obtained from:
CO-NET Spring 1995 Hyper-Abledata CD-ROM ¥ Trace R&D;, Center ¥ Madison, WI The AbleData resource is available via the Internet, Dial-in bbs and voice/TDD. Use these for the latest up-to-the-minute information.
Macro International
1-301-588-9284 - TDD/Voice
1-800-227-0216 - TDD/Voice
Trace R Center
1-608-262-6966 - Voice
1-608-263-5408 - TDD
1-608-262-8848 - FAX
Internet: http://www.fedworld.gov
Abledata.
Author: Mike Birkmire
Copyright © 1995 Learning Independence Through Computers. AbleComm Project, All rights reserved.
