I have written before about the problems that people with hearing difficulties have when using telephone systems, but although they are now getting better services, new problems have arisen.
Deaf people generally access the telephone system using textphones - simple terminals with integral modems. Carriers such as BT are obliged by their licences to fund a relay service to convert between speech and text, so textphone users can communicate with voice users.
BT's Typetalk service is run jointly by BT and the Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID). It employs specially trained operators who perform the text-to-speech and speech-to-text conversions. Typetalk has been operating for many years, but BT has made it easier to use thanks to the TextDirect platform. This uses special access numbers in the 1800x series and can switch automatically between voice and text, bringing in a Typetalk operator only when necessary, so reducing the cost of the call.
Other fixed-line operators are required to provide similar services and have done so by making interconnections with TextDirect. While mobile operators such as Vodafone and O2 are not yet required to offer the same relay services as fixed-line carriers, they may well use TextDirect anyway now BT has recently reduced its interconnect charges.
At present, TextDirect has three access codes: 18001 for text users, 18002 for voice users and 18000 for text access to the emergency services.
TextDirect appears to have been working well and BT has improved its reliability, but problems remain.
One glitch concerns 1800x access codes - many private branch exchanges (PBXs) that form the basis of internal corporate phone systems bar access to any code starting with 1, so users linked to such a PBX cannot access TextDirect.
Though it is usually straightforward to configure a PBX to allow the 1800x number, very few firms have done so. There's an opportunity here for PBX manufacturers and support companies to tell customers how to do it. It is a simple alteration that allows hearing staff to make calls to deaf customers, and makes life easier for deaf employees.
Opening up PBXs makes firms compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). It can also help if numbers are provided for direct phone access.
Equipment is available to offer textphone capabilities to any PC connected to the corporate LAN. This is important for call centres or other systems with high volumes of inbound traffic.
Services with voice menus are generally difficult to use with a relay service because of the delays. It can be necessary for the caller and relay operator to work out the sequence of keys to press by making dummy runs through the system, which is laborious. BT has enhanced TextDirect to help, including a register of common numbers so that an operator may be brought in sooner.
But the onus is really on service providers to make the system more relay-friendly or to offer some alternative mechanism, preferably via a textphone access number.
About 10 percent of the population has difficulty using the phone system because of hearing impairments. Failure to accommodate them means that corporates may be missing a large part of the market and are in breach of the DDA to boot.
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