Video relay calling breakthrough uses FaceTime to help the deaf

article is very nice. issue raising in this article is very important. i like this.

While I am excited for these new capabilities of the iPhone, there are still many avenues that I would like to see them take.

As the child of deaf parents, my communication options are to call through relay services (either text or video) or to use text messaging/instant messaging. Although both are adequate forms of communication, neither of them let you truly connect with the person who you would like to speak to. For the deaf & hearing impaired, the visual aspect of communication is what reflects emotion. Imagine calling a dear friend for support, but you can't hear the inflection of emotion in their voice.

Currently many videophone services only supply devices to deaf customers. I think a great use for FaceTime would be to allow the iPhone and videophone services to work together, to allow FaceTime users to call Sorenson/Ojo/Purple customers and vice versa, for face to face communication in the format that is "real" and natural to this community.

Thank you so much TUAW, for this article, and for making people aware of this issue.

I am profoundly deaf since birth. I do not know any sign language at all, but I lip-read and am very proudly oral. Even though the Video Relay is wonderful for people who sign, and enables them to use the phone when away from home, it leaves out people like me who are hearing impaired or deaf and do not sign. BTW, I can not lip-read video, most lipreaders can not as it is 2D.

I got an iPhone 3GS when my Nokia died, thinking the Hamilton CapTel Mobile app would be just like my wonderful CapTel 800i landline phone.

While I am very, very grateful for the Hamilton CapTel Mobile app, I was disappointed it doesn't work just like the CapTel 800i landline phone. For the Hamilton CapTel app, you have to dial all these numbers in just to call out; for people to call you, you have to be actively signed into Hamilton CapTel Mobile (and basically waiting for the call), then people have to call an 800 number and then enter your number.

With the CapTel 800i landline phone (the i stands for Internet), you have to be at home, on a landline with an ethernet cable, but you can just pick up the phone and call anyone, and anyone can just call you directly just like anyone else.

I am hoping and praying for Hamilton CapTel Mobile to be updated so it works just like the CapTel 800i landline. There are millions of deaf people who are oral and do not know sign language, who could really use this app.

Many deaf people like me find the phone to be extremely frustrating. While email has been so wonderful and helped ease communications, the phone is still a huge barrier and a necessary instrument of evil LOL. If I were to break down on the highway, I can not call a tow truck. If I were on a hike with a good friend who suddenly has a heart attack and becomes unconscious, I can not call for help.

For calling strangers, I use IP Relay, along with a traditional old-fashioned TDD and Relay. Even though Relay has been around for over 30 years, it's still a problem, especially when calling strangers such as a plumber. Imagine having an emergency and you need a plumber ASAP, and when you call a plumber out of the Yellow Pages, they take Relay as some kind of joke and hang up on you. If people are willing to work with Relay, they still find it awkward, knowing a third party is listening in.

The phone is still a social barrier. I am 44 years old, and people my age usually are not into texting/SMS. While friends would call each other to chat and cement friendships, like in high school, I was left out. Today it is better with email, but the social barrier is still there.

Again, I am grateful for the Hamilton CapTel Mobile, and for the landline CapTel 800i.

To Hamilton and Apple, please try to develop more for the deaf and hearing impaired who do not sign, thanks!

I would like to welcome our American friends to the age of modern communications. On this side of the pond deaf people have been using video calls for years.

This article is really full of misinformation. The TTY has pretty much been obsolete for years. Relay calls can me made over IP, using an instant messaging program such as AIM. So the deaf and hard of hearing can make calls with any device that can instant message, including a computer, cell phone, pager, iPod Touch, etc. And some relay companies have apps in the app store for making relay calls.

Video relay is preferred for several main reasons. It's a much faster phone call, for both the deaf person and the person they are calling. It also allows them to show emotion via their facial expressions, opposed to typing in which emotion is harder to relay.

So the iZ is not breaking any barriers. The TTY barrier was broken years ago, and video relay has also been around for years. Other phones can make video calls already, so the only thing iZ is doing is being able to use FaceTime as the medium for making the video call. Just because it's using the iPhone 4 doesn't make it groundbreaking, the technology and services are already out there.

The AppleInsider article was written correctly, and TUAW took it and filled it with mistakes, false information, and politically incorrect terms.

Please post more articles like this, instead of iPhone antenna issues. Thanks.

This article is right in many ways but i would like to make corrections:

1) it is better to refer to deaf people with "deaf" only not "hearing impaired" because that is considered offensive -- many would say they can function perfectly in this world, that they are not impaired in any sense.

2) there has been videophone and video relay technology for past seven years or so, and sign language users have used them effectively and yes this iPhone 4 does enable them to do calls in a more "freer" state.

Real time conversion from speech to sign language is certainly an accomplishment, but I would have imagined that prior to this, the fastest option was IM - in which case the additional bluetooth keyboard support would seem like a bigger improvement in accessibility.

I don't know how fast a person can sign, but I can type 60-80wpm and I would probably be even faster if I didn't have the option to speak to communicate.

Also, I'm completely ignorant of the deaf community, so if anyone has insight on why this this is so much superior to typing, and why this intermediary service hasn't been eclipsed by sms and instant messaging already, please explain!

This was great when I read about it a week ago when it actually happened. Tuaw, yesterday's news tomorrow!

Htc's Evo will do it now. Over 3g, 4g, or wifi.