Overview
Expanding Knowledge
Strategic Initiatives
2.1 Previous Studies
2.2 Statistics
2.3 Available Technology
2.1 Previous Studies
Quite a few studies have been done in the area of availability and accessibility of TTY services.
In 1988, the Canadian Coordinating Council on Deafness randomly checked listed federal telephone device numbers for people who are Deaf, deafened or hard of hearing, or have a speech impediment. It found that 85% of the calls could not be completed, due to either equipment malfunction or lack of response.
After informal reports suggested continuing problems, the CHRC decided to find out whether the situation had improved since the 1988 random check. That decision led to the CHRC’s 1991 survey, Availability of TDD Services by Federal Departments. In that study, the CHRC surveyed 55 offices of 31 federal departments and agencies, and found that almost 70% of calls placed by CHRC staff were not answered on the first attempt. While the response rate increased with multiple calls, fully one third of the surveyed offices did not respond at all to the calls.
The CHRC completed a follow-up survey of TTY lines in 1994 and presented its findings in a report called Availability of TTY Services from Federal Departments and Private Sector Organizations. That survey had a public sector sample of 39 government offices with 56 TTYs and results indicated little progress since the 1991 survey. Specifically, out of the 56 TTYs called, only 46.4% answered the first time and 35.7% never answered.
The four studies the CAD conducted between 2002 and 2004 on the accessibility of federal government services confirmed the findings of the CHRC. These studies examined whether government departments and agencies provided TTYs, and whether TTYs listed on federal government Web sites, in blue page listings, in print advertising and in closed captioning of TV commercials sponsored by the Government of Canada provided adequate access to government services.
In the first study, researchers accessed 348 Web sites through the Government Electronic Directory and searched them for contact information. If no telephone number was provided, the Web site was no longer considered (of the 348 Web sites accessed, 84 did not list any telephone number). If a telephone number was listed on the Web site, the search continued for a TTY number (193 Web sites listed a telephone number but no TTY number). Listed TTYs were tested to see whether they were operational. Overall results confirmed a lack of adequate service.
The blue page listing study examined telephone blue page listings in three Canadian cities (Ottawa, Toronto and Calgary). This study used the same methodology as the Web site study; in other words, researchers expected to find TTY numbers for all telephone listings. However, in 46% of the cases, no TTY was listed for any city. In 26% of the cases, a TTY number was listed in the blue pages of at least one city, and in only 28% of cases were matching TTY numbers listed in all three cities. No government department had a one-for-one TTY listing for all its phone numbers. Listed TTY numbers were not tested.
The 2001 Statistics Canada Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS) concluded that 2.8 million Canadians reported a hearing disability (in other words, that they were Deaf, deafened or hard of hearing).
Advocacy groups have expressed concern about the PALS survey, noting that the survey was based on self-identification that may have resulted in under-reporting. They estimate the true number of people with a hearing disability may be closer to 3.1 million. Approximately 10-15% of people with a hearing disability are Deaf or deafened. This is the group that makes most use of TTYs.
TTY is the proper acronym for the special devices used by Deaf, deafened, hard of hearing and hearing people to communicate with each other through the telephone system. TTY users type their messages on a keyboard and receive messages via a computer monitor or light emitting diode (LED) display. This technology has been around for a long time and it is still the standard method of telephonic communication.
There are different types of TTYs, with desktop TTYs (Figure 1) being the oldest. Desktop TTYs use the Baudot code (also used by telegraph systems). They connect to other TTY devices, or to regular phones via relay service, using a regular analog telephone line. These desktop TTYs allow people who don’t have a hearing loss to communicate directly with TTY callers.
Stand-alone and distributed computer TTYs form the other category. They are computer-mounted TTYs, meaning that they use a modem to connect to the regular telephone line. Modems convert digital signals to analog signals and the Baudot code used by desktop TTYs to the ASCII used in computers, and vice versa. These TTYs are multi-functional. They let users make or answer a call directly from their PC; provide a pop-up visual ring alert, a message system and an answering machine; and allow users to save and print TTY conversations. These systems also allow people who don’t have a hearing loss to communicate directly with TTY callers.
Distributed computer TTYs have controlling software installed on the computer server and distributed to individual workstations. This network-based communications system for text, voice chat and messaging makes enhanced instant messaging and other services available to every user, while providing specialized services for people with a hearing loss. It can "TTY enable" each of its users to make or accept calls from people who are Deaf, deafened or hard of hearing, or have a speech impediment. Unlike some text messaging systems available on the Internet, both stand-alone and distributed computer TTY products offer security protection, either by sending message traffic in Baudot code or by encrypting message traffic with the operating software working behind the firewall.
The federal government is currently looking at converting the whole government telephone service to Internet Voice, also known as Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology. VoIP allows users to make telephone calls using a broadband Internet connection instead of a regular telephone line. It converts the voice (analog) signal from the telephone into a digital signal that travels over the Internet, and then converts it back at the other end so the user can speak to anyone with a regular phone number.
As illustrated by Figure 2, some VoIP services only work over a computer or a special VoIP phone, while other services allow the user to use a traditional phone equipped with an adapter.
Figure 2: VoIP (Source: Federal Communications Commission)
Since computer-mounted TTYs already use digital signals, they could easily be incorporated into a VoIP system. This possibility should be further investigated and, thus, it is one of the recommendations of this report.
Another available communications technology is relay service (Figure 3), an operator-assisted system. A person who is Deaf, deafened or hard of hearing, or has a speech impediment, uses a TTY to type his or her conversation to a relay operator, who then reads the typed conversation to a hearing person using a regular telephone. The relay operator then types the hearing person’s spoken words back to the TTY user. Privacy and confidentiality issues and the slowness of the method are usually of concern to relay service users. In addition, there are legal issues, as some departments cannot use relay service without a signed release. The service also has shortcomings if conversations contain any technical jargon the relay operator is unfamiliar with.
Captioned telephones (CapTel) work like traditional telephones, except they also display written, word-for-word captions of everything the caller says. CapTel users can listen to the caller and can also read the captions in the CapTel’s display window. Since CapTel requires captioning service operators, it is essentially a relay service and, therefore, involves the same privacy and confidentiality concerns. This technology is currently not available in Canada. Voice carry over (VCO) technology lets individuals with a hearing loss speak directly to the person they are calling, and then read that person’s response on their TTY or VCO display, as transmitted by a relay operator. Amplified telephones increase the volume of a traditional telephone call, helping the user understand more clearly over the phone. However, these two technologies are useful only to some hard of hearing individuals, not to the deaf community in general.
Other alternatives to the telephone include e-mail, instant messaging, captioning, computer-assisted real-time transcription (CART)—sometimes called communication access real-time translation or simply real-time captioning—wireless text messaging, video messaging (such as video conferences, video mail and Web-stream video) and video relay. Current video relay technology includes video relay service (VRS) with video interpreting (VI), where users use American Sign Language (ASL) instead of typing to talk to a relay operator. The relay operator, called the video interpreter, translates and voices the user’s signs to the called party. VRS is not yet commercially available in Canada.