I saw this ad through an email. "15% off all Ultratec TTYs" from http://www.weitbrecht.com/onsale.php. I had mixed reactions to this news.
First, let's go over the timeline quickly.
- 1964 => The first TTY was developed by Robert Weitbrecht whom is Deaf. (It only worked 1 way.)
- 1973 => 2-way TTY (Manual Communications Module) was developed.
- 1980's => Micon sold hundreds of thousands of TTY to consumers and businesses, despite costing over $500.
- 1990's => Non-Printing TTYs came out.
- 2000 => VRS came out.
- 2010's => The minutes of VRS used are over 100 million while TTY uses only a few million minutes (FCC).
As I investigated a bit further. I realized the cost of TTYs is still expensive! At least $300 or more at harriscomm, maxiaids, amazon, hearmore, and others. That's absolutely ridiculous for something that was $500. (A dollar in 1970s is about $5 now. So that means it cost $2,500 for a TTY). We can literally buy a new mini-laptop for $250 or less.
I do understand the reason for 911, but I can tell you that technology is improving at a rapid pace. It won't be soon before we can do 911 through the Internet.
So again, I ask you,
"Are the days of TTYs over?"
I use and have been using TTY since 1972. More reliable. By that , I mean there is no misunderstanding between me and any CA attendant. I have seen plenty of interpreters on videophone misinterpret what you say and are unable to read your fingerspelling. They would translate literally when they should translate equivalently. I have two TTYs.
ReplyDeleteJean Boutcher
I think TTY is near obsolete for the DEAF however it still has a following with Hard of Hearing sectors. Regarding videophones did they EVER catch on ? I thought most deaf went online with SKYPE etc.... The issue with TTY was if there was no TTY at the other end you had to rely on relay services which are pretty awful in the UK, because there is still such a huge gap in mainstream's awareness of relay services despite 14 years of campaigning, the chances of getting an immediate reply was about 36%, I gave TTY up years ago. Too much hassle, and, TTY and relay services could only cope with direct calls, if you rang a helpline or something, e.g. press 1 for this 2 for that etc, it failed.
ReplyDeleteDeaf-blind are still use. It's cheap than computer that design for deaf-blind, that way they're able to keep communicate with certain deaf. However, there are many TTY available outside US.
ReplyDelete