Interoperability Project Team: Telecommunications Products and Services John Goldthwaite Information

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Interoperability Project Team Telecommunications
Products and Services John GoldthwaiteInformati
on Technology Technical Assistance and Training
CenterEugene Seagriff, Panasonic Gregg
Vanderheiden and Dick Brandt RERC on
Telecommunication AccessJeffrey Pledger, AbleTV
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Interoperability issues for TTY
Connectivity does CPE have method of connecting
a TTY Audio interface Direct connection to
analog telephone system Hearing Carry
Over control of handset speaker Voice Carry
Over control of handset microphone
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Interoperability issues for TTY
TTY pass through pass TTY tones without
distortion Interactive Voice Response systems
(IVRS) (IVR Forum) Direct usage by TTY Usage
through TRS timeout problems TTY functionality
in CPE itself (not required)
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Interoperability issues for Hearing Aids

• Interference (HAC Act, FCC)
• Coupling/interconnect (HAC Act, FCC)

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Ability to work with AT actuators

• Remote console
• alternate display and controls
• Prosthesis

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Augmentative and alternative communications
systems with synthetic speech

• Voice recognition accuracy
• Timeout problems

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Provision (a) .. provide a standard non-acoustic
connection point for TTYs .. Microphones shall
be capable of being turned on and off to allow
the user to intermix speech with TTY use.

• Wireline telephones An RJ-11 port to allow
  connection of a TTY or computer modem.
• Cell phone handsets audio jack, menu or button
  controls for activating speaker and microphone
  which meets the requirements of TIA TSB-121.
• Lack of 508 support for Hearing Carry Over(HCO)?

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Provision (b) .. support all commonly used ..
standard TTY signal protocols.

• TTY Forum hosted by the Alliance for
  Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS).
• Project documents can be found on the ATIS
  website www.atis.org/atis/tty/ttyforum.htm
• Technical solutions developed by both Lucent
  Technologies and Ericsson. The FCC has requested
  that the systems be in place by June 30, 2002.

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Provision (c) .. IRV systems shall be usable by
TTY users with their TTYs

• The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry
  Solutions (ATIS) is hosting the IRV Forum to
  address these problems.
• We should follow their progress on this item.
• www.atis.org/atis/ivr/ivrhom.htm

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Provision (e) .. caller identification and
similar telecomm. functions shall be available
for users of TTYs, and for users who cannot see
displays.

• Support standard connection points and an API to
  allow interconnection of assistive devices. For
  example, ISDN phones could support the
  Microsofts TAPI API. Users could connect a
  computer with appropriate assistive technology to
  the phone and control the telephone via software.

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Provision (f) products shall provide a gain
adjustable up to a minimum of 20 dB

• No interoperability issues.

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Provision (g)..automatically reset the volume to
the default level after use..

• No interoperability issues.

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Provision (h)..a means for effective magnetic
wireless coupling to hearing technologies shall
be provided..

• The Hearing Aid Compatibility Act of 1988 (the
  HAC Act), required all new telephones produced or
  imported after 1989 be compatible with hearing
  aids so current land line phones meet this
  provision. Wireless phones were exempted from
  HAC but the FCC has requested comments on a
  proposal to remove this exemption. The forum
  should follow the discussion with the FCC.

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Provision (i).. Interference to hearing
technologies .. shall be reduced to the lowest
possible level that allows a user of hearing
technologies to utilize the telecommunications
product.

• The forum should follow the discussion with the
  FCC Notice of Proposed Rule Making.

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Provision (j) Products that transmit or conduct
information or communication, shall pass through
cross-manufacturer, non-proprietary,
industry-standard codes, translation protocols,
formats or other information necessary to provide
the information or communication in a usable
format

• Equipment and software must support all of the
  components of media and not strip components or
  distort them in compression systems.

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Provision (k).. Requirements for mechanically
operated controls or keys

• No interoperability issues.