TELEPHONE CALLS BETWEEN THE HEARING AND THE DEAF

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Deaf or speech impaired persons often need to speak to the hearing/speaking world by telephone as part of their employment, in social interactions, or to access goods or services. Presently, such conversations are generally made possible through the "relay services". Unfortunately, relay calls are inconvenient to set up, and since only one person may speak, or type, at a time these calls are slow and frustrating for both parties. The proposed Phase I device, in one configuration, will detect whether a call received by a deaf or speech impaired person is from a voice caller, TTY, standard modem, or fax. When a voice caller is detected the device will automatically call out on a second phone line and create a link with the local relay service. The device will support bridging of voice sounds across the two phone lines to support "VCO" and "HCO", and will allow a hearing/speaking person to call a deaf/speech impaired person directly without the need for special instructions. An emphasis of the R&D will be to allow either party to comment or interrupt at any time which will lead to more natural conversations. To this end, advanced techniques such as digital simultaneous voice and data (DSVD) will be employed. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: The proposed R&D will result in a telecommunications device which will be suitable for the deaf and/or speech impaired to converse with the hearing/speaking world. This product will also be marketed to the relay services. Elements of the proposed work can be used with standard DSVD modems and will be marketed separately.