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2.1 No Answer
2.2 Statistics
2.3 Available Technology
No Answer A Review of Government of Canada Telephonic Communication with People Who Are Deaf, Deafened, Hard of Hearing or Have a Speech Impediment—July 2005 The need for this review arose from studies carried out by the Canadian Association of the Deaf (CAD), which indicated discouragingly low levels of operational TTY services. Once CAD brought these results to the attention of the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC or the Commission) with the goal of finding options to rectify the situation, the Commission mandated Consulting and Audit Canada (CAC) with the review of TTY services provided by federal departments and agencies. This review was conducted in the fall of 2004, and the report was published in July 2005. The objectives and scope of the No Answer review were similar to those of the current review. The main difference is in the target sample, which was limited to federal institutions governed by Schedules 1, 1.1 and 2 of the Financial Administration Act in the first No Answer review. Results of the review indicated that only 20 of the 64 organizations that listed a TTY had one that worked when tested. In fact, for people who rely on TTYs to communicate, there was only a 50/50 chance that they would find a TTY number for a government program or service, and there was only a one-in-three chance that they would be able to complete the call successfully. Upon analysis, there appeared to be two main reasons for this situation: a lack of adequate policies, procedures and guidelines; and failure to properly manage communications services for those who cannot use the regular telephone system. To follow-up on this review, the Commission communicated with the non-responsive organizations and with the Treasury Board Secretariat to see what actions could be taken to improve this situation. In February 2006, the Treasury Board of Canada and the Commission signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) outlining the steps that the Government of Canada will undertake to implement the Commission’s recommendations aimed at ensuring that people who are Deaf, deafened or hard of hearing have equitable access to telephonic communication. The Commission is encouraged by the commitment of Treasury Board to resolve this issue. A copy of the MOU is included as Appendix D to this report. Statistics The 2001 Statistics Canada Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS) concluded that 2.8 million Canadians reported a hearing disability (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. Available Technology TTY is the proper acronym for the special devices used by Deaf, deafened, hard of hearing and hearing people to communicate 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. Figure 1: Desktop TTY
 There are different types of TTYs, with desktop TTYs 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 (explained later in this section), using a regular analog telephone line. These desktop TTYs allow people who don’t have a hearing loss to communicate directly with TTY callers. Computer-based TTY systems that work on one computer or a group of computers are an innovation on the traditional desktop system. These systems 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 and are simpler to use than traditional TTYs. Distributed computer TTYs work through a controlling software installed on a computer server, which distributes TTY capacity 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. 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. Figure 2: VoIP
Source: Federal Communications Commission
Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology has many potential benefits to people who currently use TTYs. 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. Since computer-mounted TTYs already use digital signals, they could easily be incorporated into a VoIP system. VoIP is now commercially available and many large organizations are adopting it as part of an integrated communication strategy. Figure 3: Relay Service
 Another available communications technology is relay service, an operator-assisted system. A person who is Deaf, deafened or hard of hearing 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 personal information, such as banking data, could be disclosed to a third party. The service also has shortcomings if conversations contain any technical jargon with which the relay operator is unfamiliar. 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, 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 employ 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 but plans are being made to introduce it in the near future.
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