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posted by janrinok on Monday December 19 2016, @02:24PM   Printer-friendly
from the shouting-is-not-the-answer dept.

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community as a historic step forward, the five-member FCC unanimously adopted rules to facilitate the transition from outdated, analog teletype (TTY) devices to a new, internet-based, real-time text messaging standard (RTT) compatible with the latest smart phones.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.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 20 2016, @04:49PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 20 2016, @04:49PM (#443874)

    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.