Needing Recommendations For Deaf Employee

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Jimi

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Hello, I work in a helpdesk, and my company recently hired a deaf employee. I'm passingly familiar with TTY, but In looking around your forums I'm seeing several other acronyms, that are completely new to me. In the short term I'm looking for a TTY client that is SIP compatible, but if there's new/better solutions I should look into please let me know. Thanks!
 
For starters, you can ask the deaf employee what his/her communication preferences are. :)

TTY is not as popular with signing deaf. Signing deaf prefer VRS (video relay service). TTY is more popular with late-deafened or non-signing deaf people. Some use the voice-over option for replying.

Texting and email are options.

Does this employee's position require communicating a lot with the general public, or is it mostly communicating with co-workers and supervisors?
 
There a software out there that may work for your situation in a TTY situation but like Reba said- depends on how the deaf employee communicates or prefers to communicate. VRS is likely the better option over TTY for signing deaf. I'm not sure what would be good for non-signing as Help Center phones may not be compatible with TTYs (at least the much older ones with the round cups). If the individual can(or prefers to) hear enough- using an amplified headset is one way to go or an in-line amplifier (plugs in between the handset and the body of the phone).
 
For internal communications, Skype for Business is popular for many companies and yes agree with Reba that every deaf person have different preference. Some just need a simple device like amplifier adapter, or Blue Tooth adapter for his/her Cochlear Implant (CI)...etc...
 
SneakerNet said:
For internal communications, Skype for Business is popular for many companies and yes agree with Reba that every deaf person have different preference. Some just need a simple device like amplifier adapter, or Blue Tooth adapter for his/her Cochlear Implant (CI)...etc...
Click to expand...

We discussed VRS... and his location is very limited on data, and I'm afraid it might be to choppy for it to work sufficiently.

Skype is an intriguing option... it says we need to connect a TTY device to the computer, but doesn't give any information into the requirements of the device. Do they mean some sort of adapter the phone plugs into? A full TTY with an analog connection?

ipTTY looks like a great option, fully software, SIP based so compatible with our VOIP PBX, it is expensive (~$350), but we're a large company so if it works, it shouldn't be an issue.
 
When a TRS is needed it looks like Dialing 711, is the way to go. Has anyone had issues that a private service would be better for?
 
Jimi,
Is the new employee use sign language? And what kind of position will he be working as? It sounded like he/she will be working remotely?
 
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