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The Federal Communications Commission last week approved one of the most important advances in communications technology for deaf and hard of hearing people in decades, in one of the agency's final acts under the leadership of outgoing FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler.
In a move that's being hailed by accessibility advocates and leaders in the deaf and hard of hearing community as a historic step forward, the five-member FCC unanimously adopted rules to facilitate the transition from outdated, analog teletype (TTY) devices to a new, internet-based, real-time text messaging standard (RTT) compatible with the latest smart phones.
As a result of the FCC's action, the nation's wireless carriers and device manufacturers will be required to support RTT functionality, which allows real-time text messaging—without the need to hit "send"—in which the recipient can instantly see letters, characters and words as they are being typed.
[...] This innovation will facilitate more natural, conversation-friendly communication for deaf and hard of hearing people—without the need for separate, specialized hardware. It will also allow 911 operators to receive incomplete messages during an emergency, potentially saving lives. RTT technology is expected to be inter-operable across wireless networks and devices, creating the potential for unprecedented ease of communication between deaf and hearing people.
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 19 2016, @02:46PM
How does this really help the deaf? If the deaf want "more natural, conversation-friendly communication" they would use a video call.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 19 2016, @03:33PM
I'm wondering if somehow the "streaming" of characters as you type is easier to compromise / makes it easier for our 3 lettered overlords to spy on us in real time.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday December 19 2016, @03:53PM
I'm wondering if somehow the "streaming" of characters as you type is easier to compromise / makes it easier for our 3 lettered overlords to spy on us in real time.
Could be financial, this would make it easier for network operators to freeze out in-line 3rd party translation services and TTS STT services, oh what a shame we picked a protocol that doesn't interoperate well with startup cloud services, I guess we'll have to keep all the money as a monopoly provider instead of sharing it. Its not impossible of course, merely makes it harder and gives the incumbent a financial advantage.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by wonkey_monkey on Monday December 19 2016, @04:08PM
If the deaf want "more natural, conversation-friendly communication" they would use a video call.
Maybe you should ask the deaf, instead of just assuming that it must be a load of bollocks because your imagination has failed you. They're pretty happy with this advancement, by all accounts.
And signing over a video call is not always a very practical thing to do, on many levels.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 19 2016, @08:11PM
I'm old enough to have used such real time text messaging, it may be amusing for a while but frankly it's overrated. So don't give me that crap about my imagination failing me.
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Tuesday December 20 2016, @12:11AM
Oh, the irony. I'll try again: ASK SOME DEAF PEOPLE IF YOU WANT TO KNOW IF AND HOW THIS WILL HELP THEM.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 2) by tathra on Monday December 19 2016, @04:36PM
text messaging is very natural for lots of people. i hate talking with my voice and find myself often unable to talk due to social anxiety, but words flow out of my fingertips naturally like its nothing (i'll often sit right next to my friends and talk to them via text rather than using my voice). just because you find it easier to talk face to face / vocally doesnt mean everyone does. 7 billion people means 7 billion different variations and possibilities. even if its only 0.01% of people that are like me who prefer text over everything else for communication, thats still tens of millions of people.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 19 2016, @08:02PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 20 2016, @04:49PM
How does it make things better for the deaf? Well, first you have to understand the system the real time text would be replacing. Teletype (TTY) systems allow a deaf person to receive a phone call from a hearing enabled person. It does this by connecting the hearing enabled caller to an intermediary operator that translates the spoken words to text for the deaf person to read and the text response from the deaf person back to spoken word. Being that there is a delay due to translation, conversations over TTY can be quite slow, which in the example cited in the summary is bad for emergency phone calls to 911. Using existing text messaging isn't really the answer to the inefficiency of the TTY systems for several reasons. First, text messages are typically sent in full sentences, negating improvement in speed due to not needing the third party. Secondly, most businesses and many 911 services don't support communication via text messages. While 911 support for cell phones is being adopted across the country, there are still a significant number of localities that are phone call only. Same goes for businesses, some are bringing in text messaging services but there are a huge number that aren't and have no plans to do so.
Now, back to the question at hand. A real time text service using voice recognition software and text-to-speech software would allow for a more natural flow to a conversation and faster communication. Hearing/seeing what is being said as it is said is just better all around than the current systems in place today.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 19 2016, @05:53PM
Well, it works better than the system they were using previously [youtube.com].