CapTel
Here's
our coverage of the IP Captioned Telephone Service approved by the FCC
in December 2006.
August 2002 - CapTel Trials
November 2002 - CapTel Update
July 2003 - NAD Director Nancy Bloch wrote a wonderful letter to the
FCC's Marlene H. Dortch, in which she explained why CapTel should be
approved for reimbursement under relay contracts. Here
are portions of it.
August 2003 - The FCC just released a ruling that
supports reimbursement for the CapTel phone - sort of!
July 2004 - Sprint
is providing free CapTel phones to Federal Relay Users!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
August 2002
Editor: I know we just ran a story about CapTel a couple of weeks ago
and you may think we're overdoing it. But I think CapTel will become
hugely significant to Americans with hearing loss, and I want everyone
to know a lot about it.
Here's an update from NVRC News.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Virginia is the fourth state in the U.S. to establish trials to test
Ultratec's unique CapTel equipment. Virginia Relay and Ultratec are
sponsoring a 6 to 9 month trial of CapTel technology which began July 1,
2002.
CapTel is a special telephone that displays captions through use of
Ultratec's captioning service. The phone looks like an amplified
telephone, and offers a lot of the features of voice carry over relay.
But for outgoing calls you do not dial the Virginia Relay. You dial the
number you want to call directly, and the CapTel phone itself takes care
of connecting you to both the person you are calling and Ultratec's
captioning service, where someone re-voices everything the other person
says. [Ed. The "captionist" re-voices what the other person
says into a voice recognition trained to their voice. The voice
recognition converts the voice to text and sends the text to your phone
as captions.] You'll hear the person you called and also see the text of
everything they are saying.
Cheryl Heppner, NVRC's executive director, has been using a CapTel
phone for several months. She likes the ease of use, the ability to hear
the voice of the caller, and the reinforcement of being able to
immediately read the words that can't be understood.
Other states with trials are Wisconsin, Washington and Maryland.
Calls are routed to Ultratec's captioning center in Wisconsin instead of
the Virginia Relay. The Virginia Department for the Deaf and Hard of
Hearing has been spearheading the trials and its outreach contractors
have been trained in the use of the equipment. This includes Bonnie
O'Leary, NVRC's specialist for outreach to Arlington County and the City
of Alexandria.
If you'd like to participate in the trial, there are still some
openings. People who would be good candidates:
- Have some hearing loss and find it more difficult to understand
telephone conversations
- Use hearing aids, cochlear implants, or assistive listening devices
- Are deaf or hard of hearing and voice for themselves when making calls
- Use VCO or 2-line VCO
For more information about participating in the trial, contact ddhhinfo@ddhh.state.va.us or call 1-800-552-7917 V/TTY.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
November 2002
Editor: We've been following the development of the CapTel phone for
some time, and are happy to provide (thanks to bhNEWS) the following
information from Pam Holmes of CapTel. For those who aren't familiar
with CapTel, a user with hearing loss hears the other person speaking
and sees the corresponding text with a very short delay. I'll save you
the technical details here, but they're available on the CapTel website
(http://www.ultratec.com/info/CapTel.html).
The article includes contact information for inquiring about
participating in the CapTel trials. Pam has requested that, in addition
to contacting the person mentioned in the article, you also let her know
of your interest. Here are portions of her recent update.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Certain states and/or telecommunications relay providers have
approached Ultratec to establish CapTel trials. Within 2002 and 2003
there are 10 separate trials planned thus far. CapTel trials are
currently under way in Wisconsin, Virginia, Maryland, Washington State,
Federal Relay (for federal government employees in any state in the
country). Minnesota, California, Oregon, Illinois, and Florida trials
are upcoming. Oregon is the next trial scheduled to begin November 1,
2002. Those who are residents of Minnesota, California, Oregon, Illinois
and Florida may email curtis.humphries@mail.sprint.com to inquire about
joining these trials when they begin. Alternatively, individuals that
are employed by the federal government, NTID or Gallaudet University may
apply for participation in the Federal Relay CapTel trial by contacting pam.holmes@ultratec.com Those who reside in Kentucky, Idaho, Nebraska,
Rhode Island, and Louisiana may contact Beth Slough at bslough@hamilton.net
and express interest in a trial in those states.
Ultratec's CapTel website link is http://www.ultratec.com/info/CapTel.html
Pricing and availability outside CapTel state trials is not available
at this time.
Let us know if more questions arise based on the information provided
above. We greatly appreciate your enthusiastic interest in CapTel! The
trials to date have been a tremendous success.
Pam Holmes
Director, Consumer & Regulatory Affairs
Ultratec, Inc.
450 Science Drive
Madison, WI 53711
Email: pam.holmes@ultratec.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
July 2003
If you've had the opportunity to try Ultratec's CapTel phone, you're
probably already a believer; if you haven't; you're in for a real treat
when you do. This phone is a GREAT improvement over existing Voice Carry
Over (VCO) telephone methodologies. For more information on the phone,
please have a look at: http://www.hearinglossweb.com/res/tele/cap.htm
NAD Director Nancy Bloch wrote a wonderful letter to the FCC's
Marlene H. Dortch, in which she explained why CapTel should be approved
for reimbursement under relay contracts. Here are portions of it. The
full letter is at:
http://www.hearingloss.org/html/fcc_captel_joint_comments.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Ms. Dortch:
The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) along with the Deaf and
Hard of Hearing Consumer Advocacy Network (DHHCAN) and Self Help for
Hard of Hearing People (SHHH) submits these comments seeking action from
the FCC on the "Petition for Clarification, Provision of and Cost
Recovery for CapTel, an Enhanced VCO Service," which was filed with
the Commission on April 12, 2002.
Established in 1880, the NAD is the nation's oldest and largest
consumer advocacy organization safeguarding the civil and accessibility
rights of 28 million deaf and hard of hearing individuals in the United
States. DHHCAN, established in 1993, serves as the national coalition of
organizations representing the interests of deaf and hard of hearing
citizens in public policy and legislative issues relating to rights,
quality of life, equal access, and self-representation. SHHH is the
foremost consumer organization for people with hearing loss in the
United States. Its mission is to open the world of communication to
people with hearing loss through information, advocacy, and support.
SHHH is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland with 13 state organizations
and 250 chapters nationwide.
During the public comment period in July and August 2002, well over
100 consumer organizations, industry and individual consumers including
NAD, SHHH, TDI, ALDA and others filed comments overwhelmingly in support
of recognizing CapTel as an enhanced voice carry over service.
Commenters also urged the commission to waive requirements not
applicable to CapTel such as VRS, STS, and HCO. The record clearly shows
generally no one objecting, and everyone in favor of this TRS technology
advancement. Our comments today are to urge the Commission to issue a
declaratory ruling with waiver or similar action to allow the CapTel to
be reimbursed from the TRS Fund to further availability.
[snip]
Since our original filing, CapTel trials have begun across the
country. Certain states and/or telecommunications relay providers have
approached Ultratec to establish CapTel trials. Our understanding is
CapTel trials are currently under way for a limited pool of individuals
in Wisconsin, Virginia, Maryland, Washington State, Oregon, Illinois,
Missouri, California, Minnesota and Federal Relay (for federal
government employees in any state in the country). Most of these
programs already have waiting lists. Pennsylvania is beginning a trial
in May 2003. Florida is scheduled to begin in June 2003. Although this
is allowing availability to a limited pool of consumers in selected
states, it is our understanding that many states are awaiting FCC action
prior to moving forward with full-fledged services.
[snip]
Employment Aspect:
As the FCC stated in its Improved Services Order, "TRS is a
critical tool for employment." Petition commenters note with great
appreciation how CapTel has allowed them to do their jobs more
efficiently and effectively. In some cases, CapTel users have noted
receiving promotions or more responsibilities with their ability to make
efficient business calls using CapTel.
We wish to further note, Title IV of the ADA and the commission's own
rules state,
"No regulation set forth in this subpart is intended to
discourage or impair the development of improved technology that fosters
the availability of telecommunications to persons with disabilities. VCO
and HCO technology are required to be standard features of TRS."
We are concerned that delay in deployment could have the affect of
going against the ADA and the Commission's rules by having deployment of
new technology to those across the nation stilted by lack of action on
the original CapTel petition.
The NAD, along with DHHCAN and SHHH, appreciates the consideration of
the FCC in giving serious and expeditious consideration to this
petition.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Editor: The FCC released a ruling on August 1 that allows the
reimbursement of interstate relay calls made using CapTel equipment. The
ruling disallowed payment for intrastate calls from the Interstate TRS
fund. Here's a story from NVRC News on what this all means!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Federal Communications Commission released a declaratory ruling
on August 1, 2003 that recognizes CapTel as an "enhanced voice
carry over service" that meets the definition of a
telecommunications relay service. When using Ultratec's CapTel telephone
and service, you dial the number of the person you wish to call and the
calls go directly to a telecommunications relay service (TRS) facility
as well as to the person you are calling.
Good news for CapTel supporters:
- Costs of providing CapTel services can be recovered.
- Consumers cannot be required to pay more than for a regular telephone
call for this service.
- The FCC agreed with the National Association of the Deaf that
captioned telephone service is an example of just the type of
advancement that they contemplated when calling for innovation in TRS.
- The FCC believes that captioned telephone VCO service such as CapTel
will reach a segment of the population that traditionally has not been
well serviced by current TRS options.
Bad news for CapTel supporters:
- CapTel is made an option rather than a requirement.
- Despite requests by Telecommunications for the Deaf (TDI) and Sprint
that all costs for CapTel be recovered from the Interstate TRS Fund,
regardless of whether the call is interstate or intrastate, and that
using the TRS Fund is the best way to promote captioned telephone
service during its infancy, the FCC disagreed. Because it is possible to
determine whether calls made by CapTel are interstate or intrastate,
only interstate calls can be paid from the TRS Fund. State TRS programs,
if they choose to offer CapTel and other captioned telephone VCO
service, must pay from their state TRS funds. In states like Virginia,
where the funding may be precarious because wireless phone users are not
yet required to contribute relay funding, and other sources of funding
are difficult due to the current economic climate, this could have a
tremendous chilling effect.
Other news for CapTel supporters:
- CapTel was ruled exempt from some of the TRS mandatory minimum
standards and was given waivers of other standards.
- The only petition sent to the FCC in opposition to the CapTel position
was from AT&T (Virginia's relay contractor), which objected because
it felt the service was too new and that the FCC should wait to see
results of the trials before reaching a conclusion. The FCC disagreed.
- The FCC, in recognizing that CapTel is provided via proprietary
equipment and technology from Ultratec, avoided authorizing a particular
technology instead of a particular functionality of service by defining
the captioned telephone VCO service as any service that uses a device
that allows the user to simultaneously listen to, and read the text of,
what the other party has said, on one standard telephone line.
- Mandatory minimum standards for TRS were waived for 711 dialing access
for outbound calls, but were given just a one-year waiver for inbound
calls.
- Standards for minimum typing speed of 60 wpm, competency in
typewritten ASL were waived, on the condition that annual reports are
filed for three years.
- TRS providers must maintain a log of complaints from CapTel users.
- The requirement for sequential calls and requesting gender preference
of CA were waived, as they are not relevant to CapTel technology.
- The requirement for the ability to interrupt calls was waived, as it
was felt that this would interfere with the natural flow of conversation
and defeat the C being transparent to the setup and the call itself.
- "Call release" requirements were waived, as the nature of
the call requires that the CA always be available to ensure no part of
the conversation is missed.
