What is VRS (Video Relay Services? and What Is It For?

For individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing will remember a day when the only method of telephone communication involved communicating by text, typically using a teletypewriter (TTY), also known as a TDD (Telecommunications Device for the Deaf). A basic TTY consists of a keyboard, a display screen, and a modem, which operates over standard telephone lines. If a deaf individual is communicating with another TTY user, both users send and receive text. If the individual wants to call someone who does not have TTY, they call a relay operator who would place the call for you. As the hearing person answers, the operator will then type back to you what the person said. This is called TRS [telephone relay services].

As the internet became increasingly popular, a new method of communication for deaf people was obviously instant messaging, or emailing each other, but in some situations, one would want to order a pizza and the restaurant doesn't have instant messaging or email. Thus the relay company made it became possible for you to contact a relay operator via online, which meant TTY/TDD weren't necessary any more as long as you had access to the internet. Also there is now IP relay, where you can instant message a relay and they will place the call for you. This means if you have a cell phone that has AIM/AOL, you can instant message a relay operator!

Now, there is a new way to place calls, visually! The Video Relay Service (VRS) is similar to the TRS, but a relay operator translates between spoken word and American Sign Language (ASL). The hearing user communicates by voice, the deaf user communicates by video using ASL. The deaf person can use VRS if he has an excellent web cam, but there is another way. A VP-100 or VP-20O video phone appliance can be used. The appliance gets connected to a television, and the deaf user would see an ASL interpreter on their tv and sign to the interpreter, who then would contact the hearing person via phone and relay between the two individuals. Hearing customers can also place a VRS call to anyone who has a VP-100/VP-200 appliance.

One more exciting thing is that two deaf people whom both have the appliance can call each other and communicate visually which adds more intimacy to the conversation instead of only seeing text when they communicate via TDD/TTY or instant messaging.