SBIR-STTR Award

Deaf or speech impaired persons often need to speak to the hearing/speaking world by telephone as part of their employment, in social interactions, or to access goods or services. Presently, such conversations are generally made possible through the "relay services". Unfortunately, relay calls are inconvenient to set up, and since only one person may speak, or type, at a time these calls are slow and frustrating for both parties. The proposed Phase I device, in one configuration, will detect whether a call received by a deaf or speech impaired person is from a voice caller, TTY, standard modem, or fax. When a voice caller is detected the device will automatically call out on a second phone line and create a link with the local relay service. The device will support bridging of voice sounds across the two phone lines to support "VCO" and "HCO", and will allow a hearing/speaking person to call a deaf/speech impaired person directly without the need for special instructions. An emphasis of the R&D will be to allow either party to comment or interrupt at any time which will lead to more natural conversations. To this end, advanced techniques such as digital simultaneous voice and data (DSVD) will be employed. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: The proposed R&D will result in a telecommunications device which will be suitable for the deaf and/or speech impaired to converse with the hearing/speaking world. This product will also be marketed to the relay services. Elements of the proposed work can be used with standard DSVD modems and will be marketed separately.

Thesaurus Terms:
computer system design /evaluation, deaf aid, online computer, speech synthesizer, telecommunicationFood and Drug Administration (FDA)

The deaf need to communicate with the mainstream hearing world in their employment, as consumers of goods and services, and in their social interactions. While this need has been generally recognized, technology in this area has been lacking. The Phase I R&D has produced TTY/TDD emulation software which will allow, for the first time, standard modems to communicate with the Baudot TTY's used by the deaf. In the Phase II, this technology, and NXi's network technology, will be used to address the needs of the deaf or speech impaired in communicating with the hearing in both a home and office environment. A hearing person will be able to conveniently call a deaf person, or vice versa, at home or office directly and a relay service will be conferenced into the call as needed. Call set up will be easier, and either party will be able to talk or type at any time to comment or interrupt leading to more natural conversations. The proposed R&D will add software support for the hardware developed in the Phase I, and the TTY emulation software will be ported to the 'WinCE' operating system, producing a new class of very portable 'TTY.'

Thesaurus Terms:
deaf aid, deafness, hearing, technology /technique development, telecommunication computer program /software, computer system design /evaluation, computer system hardware, portable biomedical equipment