by Dana Mulvany, MSW, LCSW
Deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people can have tremendous difficulty
managing incoming voice calls and messages. Fortunately, there are
effective strategies available! First, let's do an overview of the problem:
Those who live with hearing people cannot simply route all calls to a TTY/TDD,
particularly if they have only one phone line. Many who are deaf or severely
hard of hearing simply don't answer the phone, leaving a hearing spouse
or child to answer the phone but if they are alone, this leaves them cut
off from incoming calls. Somehow, deaf/deafened people need to be able
to tell whether an incoming call is voice or TTY. If they were to order
a second line for improved communication, they would lose the Universal
Lifeline discount (if they had qualified for this) and could end up paying
four times what they had been paying for basic phone services.
(8/12/98: At this time, it is possible that people should not lose their
Universal Lifeline discount upon adding a second line. However, currently,
they would still have to pay the full installation rate for a second phone
line and pay regular costs for a second line, either doubling or tripling
their monthly basic phone service costs.)
In contrast, hard of hearing people with adequate phone amplification may
not have trouble communicating by voice with a responsive human being,
but may have considerable problems understanding messages left on voice
answering machines. Relay services typically require that two phone lines
be involved in order to relay a call. Hard of hearing people with a single
line and a voice answering system can therefore face quite a dilemma when
they cannot understand a voice message, particularly when they live alone.
State equipment distribution programs usually consider themselves responsible
only for providing access to basic services, not enhanced or optional services.
Answering systems tend not to be considered basic service but rather a
convenience (or enhanced service) to the owner or subscriber. In a state
where there is an equipment distribution program, a person should make
sure he or she has the most effective equipment possible for directly understanding
telephone communication, and then select an answering system in addition
to that equipment. In California, the Equipment Distribution Program provides
a very wide variety of amplification equipment for hard of hearing people
as well as TTYs and VCO (Voice Carry Over) phones (which also have built-in
amplification). See Californian's Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications
Program's web page for more information at http://www.ddtp.org.
This paper will outline several different methods for handling voice/TTY
calls and/or messages. Some methods incorporate both screening and answering
machine solutions, others only answering system messages.
1. Existing voice answering machines. Some VCO or TTY phones may be capable of being used as a TTY answering machine in conjunction with a voice answering machine. The TTY or VCO phone needs to be the first one connected to the phone line; it will either pick up a TTY call or relay a voice call to the voice answering machine. (This may not work with all answering machines and will not work with TTY/VCO phones which do not have answering capabilities. Consult the manual for your TTY/VCO phone for more information.) To screen a call, watch your TTY and pick up the call if you see that you are receiving a TTY message. Be sure to let your potential callers know that you screen your calls, not to assume you are not home, and that they need to begin leaving you a message.
Let's say your TTY can't be connected to your voice answering system
to receive messages directly on the TTY. It is possible to use a TTY with
acoustic cups to decipher TTY messages left on an answering machine. Put
the right cup of the TTY as near the speaker of the answering machine as
possible. Ensure that the TTY does not have a phone line plugged into the
line input jack as this can turn off the acoustic retrieval capabilities
of the TTY. However, make sure that your answering machine does not have
a problem receiving calls made in Baudot (the standard TTY code). It may
be possible to use this method to screen incoming calls if the answering
machine automatically plays the voice of the person calling through the
speakerphone.
2. Two-line VCO allows you to use residual hearing with the other person
on one line but receive text translation from the relay service operator
on a different line. It requires two phone lines and three-way calling
on the line used for voice calls. If you receive a voice call that you
cannot understand, you can put that call on hold, dial the relay service's
voice number (use any memory function you have on the phone), direct them
by voice to call your TTY or computer on your second line, and then, after
your TTY/computer answers the call, connect the relay service to the initial
voice call . (If you hear any typing, you may ask the operator to mute
his or her microphone; this may also improve the loudness of the other
person's voice and yours.) You will then be able to converse with the other
caller as well as see the text of his or her words from the relay operator
on the second line. (Warning; if the hearing person speaks too quickly
or is hard to understand, you will need to take charge of telling the person
to slow down or to speak as clearly as possible. The operator is not usually
permitted to give this feedback by voice during a two-line VCO call, although
you could try asking the operator to do this if the problem continues.)
To set up your computer for relay service use, there is free software available
for PCs (see the ASCII-TTY software available through Downloads at http://tap.gallaudet.edu).
You may also be able to use communications software on your computer, such
as HyperTerminal, to connect to the relay service by using the approriate
configuration (contact your relay service's customer service as this info
is different for some relay services).
Note that two-line VCO is the only method available for a deaf or severely hard of hearing person to be able to handle any incoming voice or TTY call when alone.
Caution: if you have Universal Lifeline, check out whether you
will lose this discount on the existing line if you add another line.
(If you have two lines, you can of course use the relay service
to relay a voice messages left on a voice answering machines. You could
use a voice answering system on one line and a TTY answering system on
another line.)
3. Telephony software on a computer equipped with a voice modem connected to a sound card allows the use of the computer as a telephone and answering system. It can allow hard of hearing people to use a neckloop, a pair of silhouettes, an audio loop system or a direct audio input cord to use their hearing aid(s) to screen incoming calls or to listen to messages. (Many hard of hearing people understand speech on the phone much, much better if they can use both ears.) A hard of hearing person may also be able to use regular headphones or ear buds, but I don't recommend this due to the possibility of overamplification at some frequencies and the danger of causing further hearing loss.) TTY messages can also be recorded, in most cases, but will need to be played back to a TTY with acoustic cups (usually black rubber cups that fit around a handset) in order to be decoded.
When you receive a call, it would be possible to turn on a TTY with acoustic cups to pick up the signal from the speakers so that the TTY can decode an incoming TTY message. (Make sure the TTY isn't attached to a phone line as this can turn off the acoustic retrieval capability.) Once the call is identified as a TTY call, see if you can pick up the call by putting the handset of a regular phone onto the TTY's acoustic cups (the modem may or may not let you do this). (A directly connected TTY will probably not work, but a VCO phone may.)
Telephony software also lets you receive faxes and decide whether or not to print them out, saving you paper. Thus using telephony software can let you receive voice, TTY and faxes on a single line.
4. Your phone company may have online answering capabilities available at an extra monthly fee (approximately $7 or $8). In California, Pacific Bell's is called the Message Center. In other areas, it may be called Personal Secretary or Memory Mail. These voice mail systems are usually able to receive TTY (Baudot) calls; you can fashion a TTY greeting to be part of your initial greeting (by playing a pre-recorded TTY message into the phone). An added benefit is that this service can accept messages when you are tying up the phone line, as you may be doing when you are on the Internet. Another benefit of this service is that you can use any in-state relay service to retrieve TTY or voice messages from the voice mail since another phone number is involved.
Screening: There is an additional device made by SoloPoint, the
S-100, which works with the online answering service to screen the message
(it is necessary to add three-way calling to your phone line). This device
also permits the use of a fax machine or a PC with fax answering capabilities.
Although this device does not work directly with a TTY or a VCO phone,
it may be possible to use TTY's with acoustic cups to decipher a TTY message
(make sure the TTY is not direct-connected to the phone line). (The S-100
is sometimes sold under other
names by local phone companies; see http://www.solopoint.com
for more information about the device.) If you do not want to pick up the
phone for voice calls, this can be a way to screen for TTY messages and
also have fax capability on your line.
5. In some states, distinctive ringing can be used to set up one phone
number for TTY calls and another for voice calls on a single phone line.
Unfortunately, Californians do not seem to have this option. Pacific Bell
does not offer this feature; their Priority Ringing service requires you
to set up specified phone numbers of the people you can anticipate calling
you. (Please let me know if GTE and other local service providers in California
do offer this service.)
6. Caller ID may be very helpful to you if you know the person or organization
calling and if the phone number is not blocked. If you can identify a number
as being that of a TTY user, you would then know you could answer that
call with a TTY. Ask TTY callers to make sure to unblock their phone numbers
when they call you. Another advantage if the number is displayed but the
caller is using voice is that you could choose to call the person back
through the relay service and be assured you had the correct phone number.
If you have a voice answering machine, you could leave a message on it
advising people to unblock their number in the future by pressing *82 before
they dial your number. (Note: software programs are available which work
with caller-id capable modems and which you can configure to help you identify
phone numbers if the name is not available.)
Please be careful about connecting any equipment, particularly phones and
TTYs, into a phone network (phones with multiple lines) as the network
may be digital and most adaptive devices work only with analog phone lines.
You may cause damage to the network or to the equipment if you hook up
incompatible equipment. People who live in dorms, residential care facilities,
or work may need special equipment for digital systems. Contact the manufacturer
of the phone equipment for more information about what is compatible with
their equipment.
If you have other suggestions for handling voice communication, please email dmulvany@usa.net.
Feel free to link to this page. You may print this out only in its entirety for self-help uses. Please contact Dana Mulvany at dmulvany@usa.net for permission if you would like to publish any part of this paper.