Phone Devices for Hearing Impaired are Incompatible, Advocates Say
Improvements in communications devices for hearing impaired people are offset by lack of interoperability, resulting in continued frustration and possible danger, disability advocates said Mon. on an FCBA panel. Relay services have evolved from the old teletype-based TTY machines to video and IP-based equipment -- but without compatible standards people often own 2 or more devices and hope the right one is turned on when one’s doctor is trying to call, said consultant Karen Strauss, a former FCC disabilities access expert. “One of the biggest problems this community faces is interoperability,” said Strauss: “Voice is compatible everywhere but not so with text or video.”
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
“Telecommunications for deaf people is not standardized,” said Kelby Brick of the National Assn. of the Deaf. Different vendors use different protocols; equipment can be expensive and so can Internet service fees, he said. Video relay service makes communications much better than before, but it also requires more expensive high-speed Internet service, Brick said.
Increased availability of broadband communications generally is good for hearing impaired people who need a lot of bandwidth to support improved communications equipment such as video-based devices but there also are downsides, panelists said. For example, the fund that’s used to subsidize relay services could “dry up” unless IP-based services like VoIP are required to contribute to it, Strauss said. IP-based services generally are classified as information services, but requirements aimed at assuring disability access and funding were written for common carriers, she said. Disability advocates have urged the House to include language in the pending telecom bill that would require VoIP to meet the same obligations as other service providers, including contributions to the relay fund.
Another problem arises from the FCC’s definition of IP- based services as “interstate,” Strauss said. “In the past, the states were the police,” assuring disability rules were followed, she said. “Who will oversee relay service,” Strauss asked: “I'm worried about this. A lot of innovation was started in the states.” Tex. TRS Administrator Ed Bosson said the best solution is a dual approach, with the states responsible for monitoring the program and the federal govt. maintaining funding authority.
Advocates also worry about access to 911 services, which they say is far from adequate for the hearing impaired. “We need a quick, feasible solution for passing calls to emergency centers” using technology such as video relay, pagers, e-mail and other communications services used by the deaf, he said. “It should be immediate and accessible.” The ADA’s requirement that 911 must be accessible using TTY has never been updated to include newer technology, Strauss said.
Hearing-impaired people are still a long way from the “functional equivalency” required by the Americans With Disabilities Act, said Claude Stout of Telecom for the Deaf. “Hearing people can pick up any phone in the world but as a deaf person I can’t make a call to anyone I want,” he said. “I feel we're a couple versions behind.” It’s “not feasible” to have to “carry around several pieces of equipment” to make calls, he said: “If providers could agree on protocols it would be so much easier for us.”
An IP-based numbering system would be ideal for the hearing impaired, solving some of the compatibility problems, Brick said. Strauss said she and other advocates recently made a presentation to the N. American Numbering Council about the benefits for hearing impaired people of moving to an IP-based system. She said the Council has passed the proposal to the Industry Numbering Committee, which is working on it. -- Edie Herman
* * * * *
Three deaf men invented the first TTYs, which were teletype machines similar to the ones used by news services, and started a communications “revolution” for hearing impaired people, according to a book written by Karen Strauss, policy advocate for disability issues. The book -- A New Civil Right -- follows the history of communications policy developments for the deaf, from relay services to TV captioning. The publisher is Gallaudet U. Press. A selection from the book can be viewed at http://gupress.gallaudet.edu/excerpts/NCR.html.