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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community as a historic step forward, the five-member FCC unanimously adopted rules to facilitate the transition from outdated, analog teletype (TTY) devices to a new, internet-based, real-time text messaging standard (RTT) compatible with the latest smart phones.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: 2) by Pino P on Tuesday December 20 2016, @06:10PM

    by Pino P (4721) on Tuesday December 20 2016, @06:10PM (#443941) Journal

    my guess it it will be encoded as a subchannel in WCDMA/UMTS radio frequencies as part of burst transmissions every X ms vs IP based. IP really sucks for very short/fast communications.

    Could this be made useful for the keyboard channel in SSH? Or is it restricted to legally deaf subscribers?

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  • (Score: 2) by NCommander on Tuesday December 20 2016, @07:26PM

    by NCommander (2) Subscriber Badge <michael@casadevall.pro> on Tuesday December 20 2016, @07:26PM (#443992) Homepage Journal

    Without seeing the specification, there's no way to know. Theorically, you could port SSH to work on non-IP protocols (DECnet had the CALL program which was basically telnet for DECnet), but if the communication method for RTT is half-duplex, it will be a lot more difficult. In addition, you might not have a lot of bandwidth. Humans can only type so fast physically ...

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