The Hearing Loss Association of America and other consumer organizations petitioned the FCC in November 2005 for the action.

“Thirteen months of advocacy work has paid off. I feel this is great news for people with hearing loss. This decision will benefit those in the workplace, who will be able to use captioned telephone with their phones in their office, with a PC to read the captions,” David Branfield of Oswego said in an e-mail Thursday.

Branfield is chair of captioned telephone advocacy of the Hearing Loss Association of America's New York State branch.

Captioned telephones allow people with hearing loss to have spoken telephone conversations, unlike older systems such as TTY, which require a keyboard.

A transcriptionist listens to each side of the conversation, repeating the words into voice-recognition software. The text is displayed on the phone's LCD screen or, in Internet protocol service, on a computer screen.

To address privacy issues, the transcriptionists are bound by a confidentiality agreement.

The FCC pointed out in a news release that captions on a computer screen can also help people who have other disabilities, such as low vision. “They can take advantage of the large text, variable fonts, and variable colors that are available,” it said.

The commission said it expects that, as with regular captioned telephone service, the service will be provided in a way that is automated and invisible to both parties to the call.

It also specified that the captions be delivered via an IP network quickly enough to keep up with the conversation.

“IP captioned relay service allows a broader range of individuals to communicate, as it permits users to initiate telephone calls from any Internet-enabled device. By not being constrained to a specific piece of equipment that resides in a particular location, users of this service have tremendous flexibility in how and where they use this service. Moreover, this item ensures that individuals with disabilities have access to new technologies and, specifically, realize the benefits of broadband services,” FCC chairman Kevin Martin said in a press release Wednesday.

According to the FCC, the unemployment rate of people with hearing loss is 75 percent.

“That is national treasure being wasted,” said FCC commissioner Michael Copps.

Comments made by the FCC commissioners will be available soon at www.fcc.gov

http://www.pall-times.com:80/articles/2006/12/23/news/news2.txt