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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community as a historic step forward, the five-member FCC unanimously adopted rules to facilitate the transition from outdated, analog teletype (TTY) devices to a new, internet-based, real-time text messaging standard (RTT) compatible with the latest smart phones.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: 4, Interesting) by NCommander on Monday December 19 2016, @04:29PM
Although I'm not hearing impaired, I went to college at RIT which hosts the National Technology Institute for the Deaf, and had a few friends in the deaf community. TTY is very common to communicate and teletype devices were present in almost every location on site so that an interpreter was not needed. The teletype allows you to basically have a real conversation in text vs. the "write a sentence, press enter" that we've expected, and various forms of shorthand were used while typing. Wikipedia has a fairly good article on the subject which includes example conversations [wikipedia.org].
Still always moving
(Score: 1) by evil_aaronm on Monday December 19 2016, @05:58PM
Small world. I also went to RIT/NTID. I found it ironic that a lunch room full of people who couldn't hear - over on the NTID side of campus - was so noisy. :-)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 19 2016, @06:37PM
As a tech focused university, it shouldn't be surprising to find multiple people from RIT on a tech new site.
~RIT 2010 graduate, previous member of SSE
(Score: 2) by NCommander on Tuesday December 20 2016, @03:53AM
Honestly, I loved living in Rochester, even with the ice and snow. It's always interesting to see how the large minority changed things; before I lived there, I'd never seen a movie theathre with open captions before, and nothing beat Henrietta Hots or Joe's Dinner (on W. Henrietta) as a late night place to go get fat and eat.
Never loved the on campus dining options, though Gracie's waffles were always quite good since you could easily load them with topics.
Still always moving