Video Relay Service
Encyclopedia
A Video Relay Service (VRS), also sometimes known as a Video Interpreting Service, is a videotelecommunication
service that allows deaf, hard-of-hearing
and speech-impaired
(D-HOH-SI) individuals to communicate over video telephones and similar technologies
with hearing people in real-time, via a sign language
interpreter.
A similar video interpreting service called Video Remote Interpreting
(VRI) is conducted through a different organization often called a 'Video Interpreting Service Provider' (VISP). VRS is a newer form of telecommunication
service to the D-HOH-SI community, which had, in the United States, started earlier in 1974 using a simpler non-video technology called Telecommunications Relay Service
, also known as 'TRS', or simply as 'Relay Service'.
VRS services have become well developed nationally in Sweden since 1997, and also in the United States since the first decade of the 2000s. With the exception of Sweden, VRS has been provided in Europe for only a few years since the mid-2000s, and as of 2010 has not been made available in many European Union
countries, with most European countries still lacking the legislation or the financing for large-scale VRS services, and to also provide the necessary telecommunication equipment to deaf users. Germany and the Nordic countries
are among the other leaders in Europe, while the United States is another world leader in the provisioning of VRS services.
One of the first demonstrations of the ability for telecommunication
s to help sign language users communicate with each other occurred when AT&T
's videophone
(trademarked as the "Picturephone") was introduced to the public at the 1964 New York World's Fair
–two deaf users were able to communicate freely with each other between the fair and another city. Various other organizations, including British Telecom's Martlesham facility and several universities have also conducted extensive research on signing
via videotelephony. The use of sign language via videotelephony
was hampered for many years due to the difficulty of its use over slow analogue copper phone lines
coupled with the high cost of better quality ISDN (data) phone lines
. Those factors largely disappeared with the introduction of more efficient video codecs
and the advent of lower cost high-speed ISDN data and IP (Internet)
services in the 1990s.
quality of service for the deaf occurred in the United States in 2003 when Sorenson Media Inc. (formerly Sorenson Vision Inc.), a video compression software coding company, developed its VP-100 model stand-alone videophone
specifically for the deaf community. It was designed to output its video to the user's television in order to lower the cost of acquisition, and to offer remote control and a powerful video compression codec
for unequaled video quality and ease of use with video relay services. Favourable reviews quickly led to its popular usage at educational facilities for the deaf, and from there to the greater deaf community.
Coupled with similar high-quality videophones introduced by other electronics manufacturers, the availability of high speed Internet
, and sponsored video relay services authorized by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission
in 2002, VRS services for the deaf underwent rapid growth in that country.
. The United States and several other countries compensate companies to provide 'Video Relay Services' (VRS). Telecommunication equipment can be used to talk to others via a sign language interpreter, who uses a conventional telephone at the same time to communicate with the deaf person's party. Video equipment is also used to do on-site sign language translation via Video Remote Interpreting
(VRI). The relative low cost and widespread availability of 3G
mobile phone
technology with video calling capabilities have given deaf and speech-impaired users a greater ability to communicate with the same ease as others. Some wireless operators have even started free sign language gateways.
Sign language interpretation services via VRS or by VRI are useful in the present-day where one of the parties is deaf, hard-of-hearing or speech-impaired (mute)
. In such cases the interpretation flow is normally within the same principal language, such as French Sign Language
(LSF) to spoken French, Spanish Sign Language
(LSE) to spoken Spanish, British Sign Language
(BSL) to spoken English, and American Sign Language
(ASL) also to spoken English (since BSL and ASL are completely distinct to each other), and so on.
Multilingual sign language interpreters, who can also translate as well across principal languages (such as to and from SSL, to and from spoken English), are also available, albeit less frequently. Such activities involve considerable effort on the part of the translator, since sign languages are distinct natural language
s with their own construction
, semantics
and syntax
, different from the aural version of the same principal language.
With video interpreting, sign language interpreters work remotely with live video
and audio
feeds, so that the interpreter can see the deaf or mute party, and converse with the hearing party, and vice versa. Much like telephone interpreting
, video interpreting can be used for situations in which no on-site interpreters are available. However, video interpreting cannot be used for situations in which all parties are speaking via telephone alone. VRS and VRI interpretation requires all parties to have the necessary equipment. Some advanced equipment enables interpreters to control the video camera remotely, in order to zoom
in and out or to point the camera toward the party that is signing.
's regulatory Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) issued a policy order on July 21, 2009 requiring Canadian telecommunication, wireless service, and VoIP providers to implement IP-based
text relay services by July 21, 2010, and also delaying a decision on the national provision of video relay services in both official languages (ASL & LSQ) for three years. According to deaf-community organizations Canada has lagged frustratingly far behind its neighbour, the United States, in respect to video relay service for the deaf and speech-impaired.
video relay service is currently provided by TegnKom, and only to deaf people at their workplace.
. France has legislated into a law the establishment of three VRS call centres to serve deaf and hard-of-hearing French consumers. However, the long-running disagreement in the French parliament on how to fund the service kept VRS from becoming a reality.
The deaf and hard-of-hearing callers receive the personal budget that covers the cost of VRS and videophone equipment. The personal budget is stipulated for three-year period.
Viable France was established in 2008 by the deaf woman to provide VRS and VRI service in France. The company is fully independent of Viable, Inc. and has its own programming and engineering team. A distinction of Viable France is the sales and distribution of its own videophone product that was fully developed and engineered by the deaf engineers at Viable, Inc.
Elision (ex VisiO08) is a set of services designed by WebSourd. On the phone, in interview or in meeting, Elision (ex VisiO08) enables deaf, hard of hearing and hearing people to communicate in sign language, spoken language and writing using total conversation
as a technical fundation of its services.
Tadeo is a communication platform for use between hearing, deaf and hard-of-hearing persons in a professional environment; it offers a French Sign Language
interpretation service, in Cued Speech
, and live Transcription, remotely and real-time.
has two providers of VRS and VRI: they are TeSS and TeleSign. TeSS was created in 2005 by the consortium of Deutsche Gesellschaft der Hörgeschädigten (German Society of Hearing Impaired), Deutsche Telekom, Bundesnetzagenteur (federal infrastructure regulatory agency), and several other associations. Deutsche Telekom provided the initial funding for feasibility project that started in 2006. TeSS receives the federal subsidy of 1.7 million euros per year and has been awarded two-year contract starting on 1 Januar 2011 and expiring on 31 December 2012.
The deaf and hard-of-hearing clients who use the VRS for private calls must enrol with TeSS and arrange the payment method. They pay 14 eurocents per minute for text relay and 28 eurocents for video relay. TeSS is operated from eight in the morning to eleven in the evening.
TeleSign provides the combined video relay and video remote interpreting service for the deaf and hard-of-hearing clients at work. The clients must apply to the integration agency for videophones and funds. The subscription is 220 euros per month with one euro per minute of video relay service. The integration agency restricts the monthly call volume to 100 minutes per client. TeleSign operates from seven in the morning to five in the afternoon.
TeSS has recently added the work-related VRS/VRI as to countereffect the demand of integration agency to switch from TeleSign to "cheaper" TeSS service.
Despite the availability of VRS providers in Germany since 2006, the VRS usage is very extremely low as compared to other countries (no more than 1200 clients out of 800,000 deaf people). The integration agency is notorious for rejecting the applications many times on "cost benefit" factor: the agency claims that some deaf clients do not make sufficient VRS calls per month to justify the cost or that the nature of employment does not warrant the need for VRS and videophones. The deaf and hard-of-hearing callers who use VRS for private calls do not receive any form of reimbursement for the VRS calls.
The grassroot movement is gaining momentum in pushing for the free VRS in Germany to subsided by the government through the contribution from the telecom companies.
national insurance company, provides the national relay service for Norway. The service started in 2008, and its usage is increasing.
was the first country in the world to implement a public VRS fully subsidized by the government. The service started as a pilot project in 1996 for ISDN videophones, but started to offer SIP-based services in 2003. Currently the Swedish video relay service is the largest in Europe with an average of 135,000 calls every year.
There is one national service for the country, which is procured by bids to the National Telecom and Postal Agency (PTS) every four years. Customers may download a video software application from the service provider, but more often the government provides the deaf community with videophone
s. These are also subsidized through the Swedish tax system.
s to provide Video Remote Interpreting
services throughout the United Kingdom
. In 2010 Significan't introduced the iSignVideo range of videophones and a web-based video calling service, the SignVideo SV2. This service is compliant with the concept of Total Conversation
.
, VRS services have been regulated by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) since 2002.
of the Texas
Public Utility Commission (PUC) envisioned deaf people communicating with videophones more than 10 years before the FCC began reiumbursing for it. Bosson contacted Mark Seeger of Sprint Relay
and discussed the possibilities. Seeger then contacted Sprint technicians to see if the proposal was feasible, and then suggested that Bosson bring the idea to Texas' PUC.
It took Bosson considerable time to convince the Texas PUC and to enlist help from a lawyer in interpreting. He first convinced his supervisor and then, one-by-one, the PUC Commissioners that video relay should become a part of statewide Telecom Relay Service
offering. Bosson was authorized to manage the first video relay service trials, and Sprint became the first service provider to conduct the Texas Video Relay Service tests. Bosson would later receive national awards from Smithsonian Computerworld and TDI for his work with VRS.
and was limited to four public call centers.
The second trial occurred in 1997 and served ten cities in Texas. At that point, Sprint and Hanwave Interpreting partnered to provide service. Jon Hodson of Sorenson Communications worked with Ed Bosson during the early stages and provided video conferencing software during the VRS trial in Texas. (At this point the service was called "Video Relay Interpreting" or VRI, which a name that now refers to Video Remote Interpreting
. Linda Nelson has been credited with changing the term from VRI to VRS.) Later, Hanwave Interpreting Service was bought by Communication Service for the Deaf, and Sprint expanded their relay subcontract to include VRS services in addition to the established TRS services
.
In 2002 Washington State and Texas tested a web based VRS, with CSDVRS providing VRS services via the Internet to State of Washington.
(FCC) is the regulatory body for VRS in the United States. In addition to overseeing VRS, the FCC also oversees Telecommunications Relay Service
s (TRS), from which the VRS regulatory framework has evolved. The FCC oversees TRS and VRS as a result of their mandate in the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) to facilitate the provisions equal access to individuals with disabilities over the telephone network.
Funding for VRS is provided via the Interstate Telecommunications Relay Fund, which was created by the FCC, originally to fund TRS services. Funding for the TRS comes from a tax on the revenue from all telecommunications companies operating in the US. The tax on revenue is set by the FCC yearly and has been steadily increasing as the number of VRS minutes continues to climb. For 2007 the tax is 7.2/100ths of a penny per dollar of revenue, up from 3.8/100th of a penny in 2000. The current revenue tax of .0072 is expected to generate $553 million against telecommunications industry revenue of $76.8 billion. The fund is managed by National Exchange Carrier Association
(NECA), which also administers the much larger Universal Service Fund
and publishes the reimbursement rates paid to all relay providers.
In addition to regulating the funding of VRS, the FCC regulates the standards that VRS companies and their employees must follow in handling calls. These regulations ensure that VRS calls are handled appropriately and ethically.
The U.S. FCC-issued rulings include:
It is important to understand that Video Relay is not government funded. It is not an appropriation and it is not a tax. Each telephone company is required to make their services accessible to individuals with disabilities. This has been defined to be relay in the various forms (Traditional, VRS, STS, IP Relay, et al.). Each common carrier contributes 0.01137% of their telephone service revenue. They do this because not all common carriers provide relay individually. There had to be a way to pay those that provided relay for those that did not, therefore the interstate relay fund started. Stating the contribution factor in a different way; it is one thousand one hundred thirty seven hundred thousandths of one percent. You would not be able to see the penny if sliced to the proportion a private telephone company contributes.
Only a handful of telephone companies have opted to provide relay themselves. Other telephone companies have the same opportunity, instead they have chosen a group purchasing concept. The fund collects a % contribution from all telephone companies; those carriers providing relay are paid based on minutes provided. They offer relay for themselves and every other telephone company. The goal being to recoup their own contribution & recover costs of providing relay for everyone else.
The FCC & the contractor responsible for administration of the fund, NECA, serve as regulator of standards of relay service and as steward of the fund. The 2009–2010 fund filing, submitted May 1, 2009, contains proposed provider payment formulas, fund size estimate and carrier contribution factor for the period July 2009 through June 2010. The filing proposes a fund size of $891.0 Million and a carrier contribution factor of 0.01137. The fund pays for several forms of relay, not just video relay. Included is captioned telephone, speech to speech and voice carry over. Someone who is late-deafened primarily uses captioned telephone and voice carry over.
The Video Relay service is in and of itself a vital tool in today's workplace for deaf and hard-of-hearing citizens. A CPA
who is deaf stated that VRS was key to maintaining his career status because clients did not have to deal with antiquated text based services. While it may seem that deaf people are getting some "high tech service", the callers on the other end who are hearing are also benefiting from the service. Today, unemployment benefit
s are verified via telephone touch-tone
systems or voice recognition. These are for the most part not accessible via traditional text relay
services. The necessity for more technological forms of relay is a function of the greater society that we all are a part of, nothing more.
(i) a description of the forms of TRS to be provided (i.e., VRS, IP Relay and/or IP CTS); (ii) a description of how the provider will meet all non-waived mandatory minimum standards applicable to each form of TRS offered; (iii) a description of the provider’s procedures for ensuring compliance with all applicable TRS rules; (iv) a description of the provider’s complaint procedures; (v) a narrative describing any areas in which the provider’s service will differ from the applicable mandatory minimum standards; (vi) a narrative establishing that services that differ from the mandatory minimum standards do not violate applicable mandatory minimum standards; (vii) demonstration of status as a common carrier; and (viii) a statement that the provider will file annual compliance reports demonstrating continued compliance with these rules.
The rules further provide that after review of the submitted documentation, the Commission shall certify that the provider of IP Relay, VRS and IP CTS is eligible for compensation from the Fund if the Commission determines that the certification documentation:
As of 2009 there have been six providers certified becoming eligible for reimbursement from the TRS fund under the rules advocated for by Daryl Crouse and supported by others in the industry.
People with normal hearing can also contact a deaf, hard-of-hearing, or speech-disabled person via VRS. To initiate a call, a hearing person calls a VRS and connects to a video interpreter who then contacts the video user.
Some VRS services also offer:
is not as standardized as its earlier counterpart, the telephone, resulting in a variety of names and terms being used worldwide, and even within the same region or country. Videophones are also known as videotelephones (or video telephones) and often by an early trademarked name "Picturephone", which was the world's first commercial videophone produced in volume. The compound name 'videophone' slowly entered into general use after 1950, although 'video telephone' likely entered the lexicon earlier after 'video' was coined in 1935.
Videophone
A videophone is a telephone with a video screen, and is capable of full duplex video and audio transmissions for communication between people in real-time...
service that allows deaf, hard-of-hearing
Hearing impairment
-Definition:Deafness is the inability for the ear to interpret certain or all frequencies of sound.-Environmental Situations:Deafness can be caused by environmental situations such as noise, trauma, or other ear defections...
and speech-impaired
Muteness
Muteness or mutism is an inability to speak caused by a speech disorder. The term originates from the Latin word mutus, meaning "silent".-Causes:...
(D-HOH-SI) individuals to communicate over video telephones and similar technologies
Videotelephony
Videotelephony comprises the technologies for the reception and transmission of audio-video signals by users at different locations, for communication between people in real-time....
with hearing people in real-time, via a sign language
Sign language
A sign language is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns to convey meaning—simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speaker's...
interpreter.
A similar video interpreting service called Video Remote Interpreting
Video Remote Interpreting
Video Remote Interpreting uses video or web cameras and telephone lines to provide sign language interpreting services, for deaf, hard-of-hearing or speech-impaired individuals, through an offsite interpreter, in order to communicate with hearing persons...
(VRI) is conducted through a different organization often called a 'Video Interpreting Service Provider' (VISP). VRS is a newer form of telecommunication
Telecommunication
Telecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded...
service to the D-HOH-SI community, which had, in the United States, started earlier in 1974 using a simpler non-video technology called Telecommunications Relay Service
Telecommunications Relay Service
Telecommunications Relay Service, also known as TRS, Relay Service, or IP-Relay, or Web-based relay services, is an operator service that allows people who are Deaf, Hard-of-Hearing, Speech-Disabled, or DeafBlind to place calls to standard telephone users via a keyboard or assistive device...
, also known as 'TRS', or simply as 'Relay Service'.
VRS services have become well developed nationally in Sweden since 1997, and also in the United States since the first decade of the 2000s. With the exception of Sweden, VRS has been provided in Europe for only a few years since the mid-2000s, and as of 2010 has not been made available in many European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
countries, with most European countries still lacking the legislation or the financing for large-scale VRS services, and to also provide the necessary telecommunication equipment to deaf users. Germany and the Nordic countries
Nordic countries
The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...
are among the other leaders in Europe, while the United States is another world leader in the provisioning of VRS services.
Telecommunications facilitated signing
One of the first demonstrations of the ability for telecommunication
Telecommunication
Telecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded...
s to help sign language users communicate with each other occurred when AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
's videophone
Videophone
A videophone is a telephone with a video screen, and is capable of full duplex video and audio transmissions for communication between people in real-time...
(trademarked as the "Picturephone") was introduced to the public at the 1964 New York World's Fair
1964 New York World's Fair
The 1964/1965 New York World's Fair was the third major world's fair to be held in New York City. Hailing itself as a "universal and international" exposition, the fair's theme was "Peace Through Understanding," dedicated to "Man's Achievement on a Shrinking Globe in an Expanding Universe";...
–two deaf users were able to communicate freely with each other between the fair and another city. Various other organizations, including British Telecom's Martlesham facility and several universities have also conducted extensive research on signing
Sign language
A sign language is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns to convey meaning—simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speaker's...
via videotelephony. The use of sign language via videotelephony
Videotelephony
Videotelephony comprises the technologies for the reception and transmission of audio-video signals by users at different locations, for communication between people in real-time....
was hampered for many years due to the difficulty of its use over slow analogue copper phone lines
Plain old telephone service
Plain old telephone service is the voice-grade telephone service that remains the basic form of residential and small business service connection to the telephone network in many parts of the world....
coupled with the high cost of better quality ISDN (data) phone lines
Integrated Services Digital Network
Integrated Services Digital Network is a set of communications standards for simultaneous digital transmission of voice, video, data, and other network services over the traditional circuits of the public switched telephone network...
. Those factors largely disappeared with the introduction of more efficient video codecs
Video codec
A video codec is a device or software that enables video compression and/or decompression for digital video. The compression usually employs lossy data compression. Historically, video was stored as an analog signal on magnetic tape...
and the advent of lower cost high-speed ISDN data and IP (Internet)
Internet Protocol
The Internet Protocol is the principal communications protocol used for relaying datagrams across an internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite...
services in the 1990s.
21st century improvements
Significant improvements in video callVideotelephony
Videotelephony comprises the technologies for the reception and transmission of audio-video signals by users at different locations, for communication between people in real-time....
quality of service for the deaf occurred in the United States in 2003 when Sorenson Media Inc. (formerly Sorenson Vision Inc.), a video compression software coding company, developed its VP-100 model stand-alone videophone
Videophone
A videophone is a telephone with a video screen, and is capable of full duplex video and audio transmissions for communication between people in real-time...
specifically for the deaf community. It was designed to output its video to the user's television in order to lower the cost of acquisition, and to offer remote control and a powerful video compression codec
Sorenson codec
Sorenson codec may refer to either of three proprietary video codecs: Sorenson Video, Sorenson Video 3 or Sorenson Spark. Sorenson Video is also known as Sorenson Video Codec, Sorenson Video Quantizer or SVQ...
for unequaled video quality and ease of use with video relay services. Favourable reviews quickly led to its popular usage at educational facilities for the deaf, and from there to the greater deaf community.
Coupled with similar high-quality videophones introduced by other electronics manufacturers, the availability of high speed Internet
Broadband Internet access
Broadband Internet access, often shortened to just "broadband", is a high data rate, low-latency connection to the Internet— typically contrasted with dial-up access using a 56 kbit/s modem or satellite Internet with inherently high latency....
, and sponsored video relay services authorized by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
in 2002, VRS services for the deaf underwent rapid growth in that country.
Present day usage
Using such video equipment in the present day, the deaf, hard-of-hearing and speech-impaired can communicate between themselves and with hearing individuals using sign languageSign language
A sign language is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns to convey meaning—simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speaker's...
. The United States and several other countries compensate companies to provide 'Video Relay Services' (VRS). Telecommunication equipment can be used to talk to others via a sign language interpreter, who uses a conventional telephone at the same time to communicate with the deaf person's party. Video equipment is also used to do on-site sign language translation via Video Remote Interpreting
Video Remote Interpreting
Video Remote Interpreting uses video or web cameras and telephone lines to provide sign language interpreting services, for deaf, hard-of-hearing or speech-impaired individuals, through an offsite interpreter, in order to communicate with hearing persons...
(VRI). The relative low cost and widespread availability of 3G
3G
3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...
mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
technology with video calling capabilities have given deaf and speech-impaired users a greater ability to communicate with the same ease as others. Some wireless operators have even started free sign language gateways.
Sign language interpretation services via VRS or by VRI are useful in the present-day where one of the parties is deaf, hard-of-hearing or speech-impaired (mute)
Speech disorder
Speech disorders or speech impediments are a type of communication disorders where 'normal' speech is disrupted. This can mean stuttering, lisps, etc. Someone who is unable to speak due to a speech disorder is considered mute.-Classification:...
. In such cases the interpretation flow is normally within the same principal language, such as French Sign Language
French Sign Language
French Sign Language is the sign language of the deaf in the nation of France. According to Ethnologue, it has 50,000 to 100,000 native signers....
(LSF) to spoken French, Spanish Sign Language
Spanish Sign language
Spanish Sign Language is a sign language used mainly by deaf people in Spain and the people who live with them.There are small differences throughout Spain with no difficulties in intercommunication, except in Catalonia and in Valencia...
(LSE) to spoken Spanish, British Sign Language
British Sign Language
British Sign Language is the sign language used in the United Kingdom , and is the first or preferred language of some deaf people in the UK; there are 125,000 deaf adults in the UK who use BSL plus an estimated 20,000 children. The language makes use of space and involves movement of the hands,...
(BSL) to spoken English, and American Sign Language
American Sign Language
American Sign Language, or ASL, for a time also called Ameslan, is the dominant sign language of Deaf Americans, including deaf communities in the United States, in the English-speaking parts of Canada, and in some regions of Mexico...
(ASL) also to spoken English (since BSL and ASL are completely distinct to each other), and so on.
Multilingual sign language interpreters, who can also translate as well across principal languages (such as to and from SSL, to and from spoken English), are also available, albeit less frequently. Such activities involve considerable effort on the part of the translator, since sign languages are distinct natural language
Natural language
In the philosophy of language, a natural language is any language which arises in an unpremeditated fashion as the result of the innate facility for language possessed by the human intellect. A natural language is typically used for communication, and may be spoken, signed, or written...
s with their own construction
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, semantics
Semantics
Semantics is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata....
and syntax
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
, different from the aural version of the same principal language.
With video interpreting, sign language interpreters work remotely with live video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
and audio
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
feeds, so that the interpreter can see the deaf or mute party, and converse with the hearing party, and vice versa. Much like telephone interpreting
Telephone interpreting
Telephone interpreting is a service that connects human interpreters via telephone to individuals who wish to speak to each other but do not share a common language. The telephone interpreter converts the spoken language from one language to another, enabling listeners and speakers to understand...
, video interpreting can be used for situations in which no on-site interpreters are available. However, video interpreting cannot be used for situations in which all parties are speaking via telephone alone. VRS and VRI interpretation requires all parties to have the necessary equipment. Some advanced equipment enables interpreters to control the video camera remotely, in order to zoom
Zoom lens
A zoom lens is a mechanical assembly of lens elements for which the focal length can be varied, as opposed to a fixed focal length lens...
in and out or to point the camera toward the party that is signing.
- Further information: Language interpretation -Sign language
Video Relay Service providers
The following sortable table is a partial listing of worldwide VRS providers.| Country | VRS Provider | IP AddressPhone number for VP or others | Phone Number for Hearing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil | Viable do Brasil http://www.brasilviable.com.br/ | ||
| Denmark | TegnKom http://www.tegnkom.dk/ | (+45) 87 13 23 03 | |
| Finland | Etatulkki http://etatulkki.fi | (+358) 040 712 5064 | |
| France | Viable Francehttp://www.viable.fr | (+33) 01 40 13 98 37 | |
| France | Elision serviceshttp://www.elision-services.com/ | (+33) 05 61 44 72 11 | |
| France | Tadeo http://www.tadeo.fr/Tadeo/en/1/.html | (+33) 01 55 97 00 00 | |
| Germany | TeleSignhttp://www.telesign.de | (+49) 04 03 31 58 97 22 | |
| Germany | TeSShttp://www.tess-relay-dienste.de | (+49) 04 03 31 58 97 23 | |
| Italy | MondoENS http://www.mondoens.it/ | (+39) 05 522 06 40 | |
| Russia | TV Deaf http://www.tvdeaf.ru/ | available online only | |
| Spain | SVIsual http://www.svisual.org/ | (+34) 91 376 85 60 | |
| U.K. | MyFriend Central http://www.myfriendcentral.com/ | ||
| U.K. | Sign On Screen http://www.deafconnections.co.uk/Table/Sign-On-Screen/ | ||
| U.K. | Sign Solutions http://www.signsolutions.uk.com | IP: 89.242.14.210 ISDN: (+44) 121 445 4510 Skype: video.sign.solutions | (+44) 121 447 9620 within U.K.: 0845 07700 41 |
| U.K. | Significan't SignVideo http://www.signvideo.co.uk | www.sv2.me | (+44) 208 463 1138 |
| U.S.A. | American VRS http://www.americanvrs.com | AMVRS.TV 212-990-1234 | (+1) 212-990-1234 |
| U.S.A. | AT&T, Inc. http://attvrs.com | attvrs.tv | (+1) 888-877-9998 |
| U.S.A. | Birnbaum Interpreting Services http://bisvrs.com | BISVRS.tv | |
| U.S.A. | callVRS http://callvrs.org/ | callvrs.info trivrs.info (Español) | (+1) 877-241-1411 |
| U.S.A. | ConvoRelay http://convorelay.com | convorelay.tv | |
| U.S.A. | CSDVRS, LLC (dba ZVRS) http://zvrs.com | zvrs.tv sp.zvrs.tv (Español) | (+1) 888-888-1116 (also for VPs) |
| U.S.A. | Federal VRS http://www.myfedvrs.us | myfedvrs.tv espanol.myfedvrs.tv (Español) | (+1) 877-709-5797 |
| U.S.A. | Gracias VRS http://graciasvrs.com | graciasvrs.tv | |
| U.S.A. | Hands-On VRS http://www.hovrs.com | hovrs.tv | (+1) 877-467-4877 |
| U.S.A. | Hawk Relay VRS http://hawkrelay.com | hawkrelay.tv | (+1) 888-880-0350 |
| U.S.A. | IWRelay http://iwrelay.com/ | iwrelay.tv | (+1) 866-258-1163 |
| U.S.A. | Latter Saint VRS http://www.LDSVRS.com | Lifelinks.tv | (+1) 877-7446-414 (+1) 877-508-7726 (Español) |
| U.S.A. | LifeLinks VRS http://www.lifelinks.net | llvrs.tv (English) llspanish.tv (Español) | (+1) 877-744-6111 |
| U.S.A. | MalkaVRS http://www.malkavrs.com | malkavrs.tv (English) malkaspvrs.tv (Español) | (+1) 855-696-2552 (855-mymalka) |
| U.S.A. | ONE VRS http://www.onevrs.com/ | onevrs.tv iChat/AIM: ONEVRS | (+1) 877-469-8377 |
| U.S.A. | PAH Relay http://www.pahrelay.com | pahrelay.tv | |
| U.S.A. | PowerVRS http://www.powervrs.com | VP: powervrs.tv 866-256-0720 IChat/AIM: PowerVRS | (+1) 866-256-0720 |
| U.S.A. | Pure VRS http://purevrs.com |
purevrs.tv (English) puravrs.tv (Español) purelegal.tv |
(+1) 877-839-2827 |
| U.S.A. | Purple Communications, Inc. http://purple.us | purple.tv www.purple.us (English) espanol.purple.tv (Español) |
(+1) 877-467-4877 (general) |
| U.S.A. | Say-Hey, Inc. http://say-hey.com | 855-855-8125 For Video Relay Service | |
| U.S.A. | Snap Telecommunications, Inc. http://snapvrs.com | call.snapvrs.com | (+1) 866-949-7627 |
| U.S.A. | Sky VRS http://www.skyvrs.com | skyvrs.info spaskyvrs.info (Español) | (+1) 877-775-9877 (+1) 786-623-3075 |
| U.S.A. | Sorenson VRS http://sorensonvrs.com | call.svrs.tv +1-866-327-8877 rapidovrs.tv (Español) | (+1) 866-327-8877 |
| U.S.A. | Sprint Relay http://sprintvrs.com | sprintvrs.tv espanol.sprintvrs.tv (Español) vco.sprintvrs.tv (Voice Carry Over) | (+1) 866-410-5787 |
| U.S.A. | URrelay Inc http://urrelay.com | urrelay.tv | |
| U.S.A. | VRSFla (VRS Florida) http://www.vrsfla.com | vrsfla.tv Spanish.vrsfla.tv (Español) | (+1) 866-926-8877 |
Canada
Canada'sCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
's regulatory Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) issued a policy order on July 21, 2009 requiring Canadian telecommunication, wireless service, and VoIP providers to implement IP-based
Internet Protocol
The Internet Protocol is the principal communications protocol used for relaying datagrams across an internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite...
text relay services by July 21, 2010, and also delaying a decision on the national provision of video relay services in both official languages (ASL & LSQ) for three years. According to deaf-community organizations Canada has lagged frustratingly far behind its neighbour, the United States, in respect to video relay service for the deaf and speech-impaired.
Denmark
Denmark'sDenmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
video relay service is currently provided by TegnKom, and only to deaf people at their workplace.
France
There are three companies that provide VRS in FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. France has legislated into a law the establishment of three VRS call centres to serve deaf and hard-of-hearing French consumers. However, the long-running disagreement in the French parliament on how to fund the service kept VRS from becoming a reality.
The deaf and hard-of-hearing callers receive the personal budget that covers the cost of VRS and videophone equipment. The personal budget is stipulated for three-year period.
Viable France was established in 2008 by the deaf woman to provide VRS and VRI service in France. The company is fully independent of Viable, Inc. and has its own programming and engineering team. A distinction of Viable France is the sales and distribution of its own videophone product that was fully developed and engineered by the deaf engineers at Viable, Inc.
Elision (ex VisiO08) is a set of services designed by WebSourd. On the phone, in interview or in meeting, Elision (ex VisiO08) enables deaf, hard of hearing and hearing people to communicate in sign language, spoken language and writing using total conversation
Total Conversation
In telecommunication, Total Conversation encompasses the use of a Total Conversation service which is defined in ITU-T recommendation F.703 as “An audiovisual conversation service providing bidirectional symmetric real-time transfer of motion video, text and voice between users in two or more...
as a technical fundation of its services.
Tadeo is a communication platform for use between hearing, deaf and hard-of-hearing persons in a professional environment; it offers a French Sign Language
French Sign Language
French Sign Language is the sign language of the deaf in the nation of France. According to Ethnologue, it has 50,000 to 100,000 native signers....
interpretation service, in Cued Speech
Cued speech
Cued Speech is a system of communication used with and among deaf or hard of hearing people. It is a phonemic-based system which makes traditionally spoken languages accessible by using a small number of handshapes in different locations near the mouth , as a supplement to lipreading...
, and live Transcription, remotely and real-time.
Germany
Currently, GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
has two providers of VRS and VRI: they are TeSS and TeleSign. TeSS was created in 2005 by the consortium of Deutsche Gesellschaft der Hörgeschädigten (German Society of Hearing Impaired), Deutsche Telekom, Bundesnetzagenteur (federal infrastructure regulatory agency), and several other associations. Deutsche Telekom provided the initial funding for feasibility project that started in 2006. TeSS receives the federal subsidy of 1.7 million euros per year and has been awarded two-year contract starting on 1 Januar 2011 and expiring on 31 December 2012.
The deaf and hard-of-hearing clients who use the VRS for private calls must enrol with TeSS and arrange the payment method. They pay 14 eurocents per minute for text relay and 28 eurocents for video relay. TeSS is operated from eight in the morning to eleven in the evening.
TeleSign provides the combined video relay and video remote interpreting service for the deaf and hard-of-hearing clients at work. The clients must apply to the integration agency for videophones and funds. The subscription is 220 euros per month with one euro per minute of video relay service. The integration agency restricts the monthly call volume to 100 minutes per client. TeleSign operates from seven in the morning to five in the afternoon.
TeSS has recently added the work-related VRS/VRI as to countereffect the demand of integration agency to switch from TeleSign to "cheaper" TeSS service.
Despite the availability of VRS providers in Germany since 2006, the VRS usage is very extremely low as compared to other countries (no more than 1200 clients out of 800,000 deaf people). The integration agency is notorious for rejecting the applications many times on "cost benefit" factor: the agency claims that some deaf clients do not make sufficient VRS calls per month to justify the cost or that the nature of employment does not warrant the need for VRS and videophones. The deaf and hard-of-hearing callers who use VRS for private calls do not receive any form of reimbursement for the VRS calls.
The grassroot movement is gaining momentum in pushing for the free VRS in Germany to subsided by the government through the contribution from the telecom companies.
Norway
NAV, which is Norway'sNorway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
national insurance company, provides the national relay service for Norway. The service started in 2008, and its usage is increasing.
Sweden
SwedenSweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
was the first country in the world to implement a public VRS fully subsidized by the government. The service started as a pilot project in 1996 for ISDN videophones, but started to offer SIP-based services in 2003. Currently the Swedish video relay service is the largest in Europe with an average of 135,000 calls every year.
There is one national service for the country, which is procured by bids to the National Telecom and Postal Agency (PTS) every four years. Customers may download a video software application from the service provider, but more often the government provides the deaf community with videophone
Videophone
A videophone is a telephone with a video screen, and is capable of full duplex video and audio transmissions for communication between people in real-time...
s. These are also subsidized through the Swedish tax system.
United Kingdom
Significan't (UK) Ltd, a deaf and sign language led social enterprise, was the first to establish an IP Video Relay Service in 2004 in London. The SignVideo Contact Centre, which employs only qualified and registered sign language interpreters and which processed its 10,000th video call in 2006, secured national contracts with Access to Work and the National Health ServiceNational Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
s to provide Video Remote Interpreting
Video Remote Interpreting
Video Remote Interpreting uses video or web cameras and telephone lines to provide sign language interpreting services, for deaf, hard-of-hearing or speech-impaired individuals, through an offsite interpreter, in order to communicate with hearing persons...
services throughout the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. In 2010 Significan't introduced the iSignVideo range of videophones and a web-based video calling service, the SignVideo SV2. This service is compliant with the concept of Total Conversation
Total Conversation
In telecommunication, Total Conversation encompasses the use of a Total Conversation service which is defined in ITU-T recommendation F.703 as “An audiovisual conversation service providing bidirectional symmetric real-time transfer of motion video, text and voice between users in two or more...
.
United States
In the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, VRS services have been regulated by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) since 2002.
Support for initial trials in State of Texas
Ed BossonEd Bosson
Roy Edward "Ed" Bosson is best known for his invention of the Video Relay Service which has provided the ability to connect between Hearing and Deaf communities through the means of Video and sign language interpreters. Bosson then went on a long career as an administrator for the Texas Public...
of the Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
Public Utility Commission (PUC) envisioned deaf people communicating with videophones more than 10 years before the FCC began reiumbursing for it. Bosson contacted Mark Seeger of Sprint Relay
Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel Corporation is an American telecommunications company based in Overland Park, Kansas. The company owns and operates Sprint, the third largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States, with 53.4 million customers, behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility...
and discussed the possibilities. Seeger then contacted Sprint technicians to see if the proposal was feasible, and then suggested that Bosson bring the idea to Texas' PUC.
It took Bosson considerable time to convince the Texas PUC and to enlist help from a lawyer in interpreting. He first convinced his supervisor and then, one-by-one, the PUC Commissioners that video relay should become a part of statewide Telecom Relay Service
Telecommunications Relay Service
Telecommunications Relay Service, also known as TRS, Relay Service, or IP-Relay, or Web-based relay services, is an operator service that allows people who are Deaf, Hard-of-Hearing, Speech-Disabled, or DeafBlind to place calls to standard telephone users via a keyboard or assistive device...
offering. Bosson was authorized to manage the first video relay service trials, and Sprint became the first service provider to conduct the Texas Video Relay Service tests. Bosson would later receive national awards from Smithsonian Computerworld and TDI for his work with VRS.
Initial Texas trials
In 1995, the first trial was run by Sprint in AustinAustin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
and was limited to four public call centers.
The second trial occurred in 1997 and served ten cities in Texas. At that point, Sprint and Hanwave Interpreting partnered to provide service. Jon Hodson of Sorenson Communications worked with Ed Bosson during the early stages and provided video conferencing software during the VRS trial in Texas. (At this point the service was called "Video Relay Interpreting" or VRI, which a name that now refers to Video Remote Interpreting
Video Remote Interpreting
Video Remote Interpreting uses video or web cameras and telephone lines to provide sign language interpreting services, for deaf, hard-of-hearing or speech-impaired individuals, through an offsite interpreter, in order to communicate with hearing persons...
. Linda Nelson has been credited with changing the term from VRI to VRS.) Later, Hanwave Interpreting Service was bought by Communication Service for the Deaf, and Sprint expanded their relay subcontract to include VRS services in addition to the established TRS services
Telecommunications Relay Service
Telecommunications Relay Service, also known as TRS, Relay Service, or IP-Relay, or Web-based relay services, is an operator service that allows people who are Deaf, Hard-of-Hearing, Speech-Disabled, or DeafBlind to place calls to standard telephone users via a keyboard or assistive device...
.
In 2002 Washington State and Texas tested a web based VRS, with CSDVRS providing VRS services via the Internet to State of Washington.
Implementation across the United States
In 2000, VRS officially became available throughout the State of Texas. In 2002, the FCC allowed for the reimbursement of interstate VRS providers via an interstate TRS fund administration, making the United States the second country after Sweden to federally subsidize VRS nationwide.U.S. VRS regulation
The Federal Communications CommissionFederal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) is the regulatory body for VRS in the United States. In addition to overseeing VRS, the FCC also oversees Telecommunications Relay Service
Telecommunications Relay Service
Telecommunications Relay Service, also known as TRS, Relay Service, or IP-Relay, or Web-based relay services, is an operator service that allows people who are Deaf, Hard-of-Hearing, Speech-Disabled, or DeafBlind to place calls to standard telephone users via a keyboard or assistive device...
s (TRS), from which the VRS regulatory framework has evolved. The FCC oversees TRS and VRS as a result of their mandate in the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) to facilitate the provisions equal access to individuals with disabilities over the telephone network.
Funding for VRS is provided via the Interstate Telecommunications Relay Fund, which was created by the FCC, originally to fund TRS services. Funding for the TRS comes from a tax on the revenue from all telecommunications companies operating in the US. The tax on revenue is set by the FCC yearly and has been steadily increasing as the number of VRS minutes continues to climb. For 2007 the tax is 7.2/100ths of a penny per dollar of revenue, up from 3.8/100th of a penny in 2000. The current revenue tax of .0072 is expected to generate $553 million against telecommunications industry revenue of $76.8 billion. The fund is managed by National Exchange Carrier Association
National Exchange Carrier Association
The National Exchange Carrier Association is a not-for-profit association created in 1984 by telecommunications companies to administer the fees that long distance companies pay to access local telephone networks...
(NECA), which also administers the much larger Universal Service Fund
Universal Service Fund
The Universal Service Fund was created by the United States Federal Communications Commission in 1997 to meet Congressional universal service goals as mandated by the Telecommunications Act of 1996...
and publishes the reimbursement rates paid to all relay providers.
In addition to regulating the funding of VRS, the FCC regulates the standards that VRS companies and their employees must follow in handling calls. These regulations ensure that VRS calls are handled appropriately and ethically.
The U.S. FCC-issued rulings include:
- The time it takes an interpreter to answer an incoming VRS call. As of July 1, 2006, VRS providers must answer 80% of calls within two and a half minutes. Starting on January 1, 2007 VRS providers must answer 80% of calls within two minutes;
- as of January 1, 2006, all VRS providers are required to provide service 24 hours a day, seven days a week;
- reimbursement of VRS Video Mail: if a Hearing person calls a sign language user, but there is no answer, the VI signs a message and delivers it to the sign language user's e-mail, similar to an answering machine. Previously this service was not reimbursed and the cost was absorbed by the VRS provider;
- VRS providers are not permitted to “call back” when a customer hangs up before a VRS call is placed;
- VRS providers must only process calls that either originate or terminate in the US or its territories. For example, a person in Canada may use a VRS service in the United States to call a person in the United States, but not another person in Canada.
It is important to understand that Video Relay is not government funded. It is not an appropriation and it is not a tax. Each telephone company is required to make their services accessible to individuals with disabilities. This has been defined to be relay in the various forms (Traditional, VRS, STS, IP Relay, et al.). Each common carrier contributes 0.01137% of their telephone service revenue. They do this because not all common carriers provide relay individually. There had to be a way to pay those that provided relay for those that did not, therefore the interstate relay fund started. Stating the contribution factor in a different way; it is one thousand one hundred thirty seven hundred thousandths of one percent. You would not be able to see the penny if sliced to the proportion a private telephone company contributes.
Only a handful of telephone companies have opted to provide relay themselves. Other telephone companies have the same opportunity, instead they have chosen a group purchasing concept. The fund collects a % contribution from all telephone companies; those carriers providing relay are paid based on minutes provided. They offer relay for themselves and every other telephone company. The goal being to recoup their own contribution & recover costs of providing relay for everyone else.
The FCC & the contractor responsible for administration of the fund, NECA, serve as regulator of standards of relay service and as steward of the fund. The 2009–2010 fund filing, submitted May 1, 2009, contains proposed provider payment formulas, fund size estimate and carrier contribution factor for the period July 2009 through June 2010. The filing proposes a fund size of $891.0 Million and a carrier contribution factor of 0.01137. The fund pays for several forms of relay, not just video relay. Included is captioned telephone, speech to speech and voice carry over. Someone who is late-deafened primarily uses captioned telephone and voice carry over.
The Video Relay service is in and of itself a vital tool in today's workplace for deaf and hard-of-hearing citizens. A CPA
Certified Public Accountant
Certified Public Accountant is the statutory title of qualified accountants in the United States who have passed the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination and have met additional state education and experience requirements for certification as a CPA...
who is deaf stated that VRS was key to maintaining his career status because clients did not have to deal with antiquated text based services. While it may seem that deaf people are getting some "high tech service", the callers on the other end who are hearing are also benefiting from the service. Today, unemployment benefit
Unemployment benefit
Unemployment benefits are payments made by the state or other authorized bodies to unemployed people. Benefits may be based on a compulsory para-governmental insurance system...
s are verified via telephone touch-tone
Dual-tone multi-frequency
Dual-tone multi-frequency signaling is used for telecommunication signaling over analog telephone lines in the voice-frequency band between telephone handsets and other communications devices and the switching center. The version of DTMF that is used in push-button telephones for tone dialing is...
systems or voice recognition. These are for the most part not accessible via traditional text relay
Telecommunications device for the deaf
A telecommunications device for the deaf is a teleprinter, an electronic device for text communication over a telephone line, that is designed for use by persons with hearing or speech difficulties...
services. The necessity for more technological forms of relay is a function of the greater society that we all are a part of, nothing more.
2005 U.S. FCC "Certification Program"
On December 12, 2005, the Commission released an order adopting new rules permitting carriers desiring to offer IP Relay and VRS services and receive payment from the Fund to seek certification as a provider eligible for compensation from the Fund. The record reflects that other entities that desire to offer VRS have been unable to join a certified state program.(i) a description of the forms of TRS to be provided (i.e., VRS, IP Relay and/or IP CTS); (ii) a description of how the provider will meet all non-waived mandatory minimum standards applicable to each form of TRS offered; (iii) a description of the provider’s procedures for ensuring compliance with all applicable TRS rules; (iv) a description of the provider’s complaint procedures; (v) a narrative describing any areas in which the provider’s service will differ from the applicable mandatory minimum standards; (vi) a narrative establishing that services that differ from the mandatory minimum standards do not violate applicable mandatory minimum standards; (vii) demonstration of status as a common carrier; and (viii) a statement that the provider will file annual compliance reports demonstrating continued compliance with these rules.
The rules further provide that after review of the submitted documentation, the Commission shall certify that the provider of IP Relay, VRS and IP CTS is eligible for compensation from the Fund if the Commission determines that the certification documentation:
As of 2009 there have been six providers certified becoming eligible for reimbursement from the TRS fund under the rules advocated for by Daryl Crouse and supported by others in the industry.
Issues in U.S. VRS administration
- Numbering standardization competing VRS providers have incompatible numbering schemes.
- Interconnection between the IP-based videophone network and the worldwide telephone network.
- VRS providers encounter difficulties routing 911 calls to the appropriate Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP). When a VRS user dials 911, the call is first delivered to the VRS, as with any other call placed. However, when the VRS interpreter attempts to connect with the user’s local PSAP, the call is instead connected to the PSAP that services the VRS provider’s location. Additionally, the information displayed at the PSAP will be that of the VRS provider, not the VRS user.
In order to route emergency calls and accurate information to the appropriate PSAP, VRS providers can send the call information to a national call-routing service. This service determines the appropriate local PSAP for the VRS user and delivers the VRS interpreter’s 911 call accordingly. The VRS user can then communicate with the PSAP dispatcher via the VRS interpreter, in order to receive the appropriate emergency services. The European Union improves access to emergency services 112 for people with disabilities. The REACH112 project intends to implement a 12-month pilot in Sweden, UK, The Netherlands, France and Spain allowing disabled users to communicate at a distance with each other and directly with the emergency services. - The VRS industry is under investigation by the FCC, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and FBI for alleged fraudulent activities meant to "manufacture" minutes. The FBI raided the offices of several VRS providers in June 2009 and consequently issued warrants and indictments for fraud. The FCC OIG office presented at the RID conference in Philadelphia alerting the field to the problem and urging all those involved to no longer tolerate and such activity by reporting it to the FCC.
- On November 19, 2009, the FBI unsealed indictments against 26 people charged with engaging in a scheme to steal millions of dollars from the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Video Relay Service (VRS) program. Arrests were made the same day by FBI agents and Postal Inspectors in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, and Maryland and were the result of a joint FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), and FCC Office of Inspector General (FCC-OIG) investigation into a nationwide scheme to defraud the FCC’s VRS program.
The indictments charged the owners, employees and contractors of several companies with engaging in a scheme to defraud the FCC’s VRS program:- Viable Communications Inc., of Rockville, Maryland
- Master Communications LLC, of Las Vegas
- KL Communications LLC, of Phoenix
- Mascom LLC of Austin, Texas
- Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Interpreting Services Inc. (DHIS), of New York and New Jersey
- Innovative Communication Services for the Deaf
- Tamara Frankel, Robert Rubeck, Benjamin Pena of Arizona
Typical calling procedure in the United States
Normally:- An individual who communicates by American Sign LanguageAmerican Sign LanguageAmerican Sign Language, or ASL, for a time also called Ameslan, is the dominant sign language of Deaf Americans, including deaf communities in the United States, in the English-speaking parts of Canada, and in some regions of Mexico...
, or another mode of manual communicationManual communicationManual communication systems use articulation of the hands to mediate a message between persons. Being expressed manually, they are received visually, and sometimes tactually...
, such as Signing Exact EnglishSigning Exact EnglishSigning Exact English is a system of manual communication that strives to be an exact representation of English vocabulary and grammar...
, contact signing (Pidgin Signed English)Contact SignA contact sign language, or contact sign, is a variety or style of language that arises from contact between a deaf sign language and a spoken language...
, Cued Speech, or Linguistics of Visual English, uses a videophoneVideophoneA videophone is a telephone with a video screen, and is capable of full duplex video and audio transmissions for communication between people in real-time...
or other video device, such as a webcamWebcamA webcam is a video camera that feeds its images in real time to a computer or computer network, often via USB, ethernet, or Wi-Fi.Their most popular use is the establishment of video links, permitting computers to act as videophones or videoconference stations. This common use as a video camera...
, to connect via broadband Internet to a Video Relay Service; - the caller is routed to a sign language interpreterInterpretingLanguage interpretation is the facilitating of oral or sign-language communication, either simultaneously or consecutively, between users of different languages...
, known as a Video Interpreter (VI). The VI is in front of a camera or videophone; - the video user gives the VI a voice number to dial, as well as any special dialing instructions;
- the VI places the call and interprets as a neutral, non-participating third party. Anything that the audio user says is signed to the video user, and anything signed by the video user is spoken to the audio user;
- once the call is over, the caller can make another call or hang up with the interpreter;
- the company that provides the interpreter services will then submit billings to the FCC.
People with normal hearing can also contact a deaf, hard-of-hearing, or speech-disabled person via VRS. To initiate a call, a hearing person calls a VRS and connects to a video interpreter who then contacts the video user.
Some VRS services also offer:
- Voice Carry Over: The video user may use his/her own voice instead of the interpreter speaking;
- Hearing Carry Over: the video user may listen for him/herself instead of relying on the interpreter;
- Language Preference: The video user requests that the interpreter use American Sign Language;
- the ability to connect to a sign language interpreter who can interpret into another language, such as Spanish.
Videotelephony descriptive names & terminology
The name videophoneVideophone
A videophone is a telephone with a video screen, and is capable of full duplex video and audio transmissions for communication between people in real-time...
is not as standardized as its earlier counterpart, the telephone, resulting in a variety of names and terms being used worldwide, and even within the same region or country. Videophones are also known as videotelephones (or video telephones) and often by an early trademarked name "Picturephone", which was the world's first commercial videophone produced in volume. The compound name 'videophone' slowly entered into general use after 1950, although 'video telephone' likely entered the lexicon earlier after 'video' was coined in 1935.
See also
- List of video telecommunication services and product brands
- Over the phone interpreting: audio only language translation used by those with normal hearing
- Telephone interpretingTelephone interpretingTelephone interpreting is a service that connects human interpreters via telephone to individuals who wish to speak to each other but do not share a common language. The telephone interpreter converts the spoken language from one language to another, enabling listeners and speakers to understand...
: audio only language translation used by those with normal hearing - Telecommunications Relay ServiceTelecommunications Relay ServiceTelecommunications Relay Service, also known as TRS, Relay Service, or IP-Relay, or Web-based relay services, is an operator service that allows people who are Deaf, Hard-of-Hearing, Speech-Disabled, or DeafBlind to place calls to standard telephone users via a keyboard or assistive device...
: precursor to VRS - TelepresenceTelepresenceTelepresence refers to a set of technologies which allow a person to feel as if they were present, to give the appearance of being present, or to have an effect, via telerobotics, at a place other than their true location....
: state-of-the-art videoconferencing technology - VideoconferencingVideoconferencingVideoconferencing is the conduct of a videoconference by a set of telecommunication technologies which allow two or more locations to interact via two-way video and audio transmissions simultaneously...
: for multiple parties - Video Remote InterpretingVideo Remote InterpretingVideo Remote Interpreting uses video or web cameras and telephone lines to provide sign language interpreting services, for deaf, hard-of-hearing or speech-impaired individuals, through an offsite interpreter, in order to communicate with hearing persons...
(VRI): where the hearing person is co-located next to the signer - VideophoneVideophoneA videophone is a telephone with a video screen, and is capable of full duplex video and audio transmissions for communication between people in real-time...
: the ancestral technology - VideotelephonyVideotelephonyVideotelephony comprises the technologies for the reception and transmission of audio-video signals by users at different locations, for communication between people in real-time....
: technology overview - WebcamWebcamA webcam is a video camera that feeds its images in real time to a computer or computer network, often via USB, ethernet, or Wi-Fi.Their most popular use is the establishment of video links, permitting computers to act as videophones or videoconference stations. This common use as a video camera...