911 Operators Can Find the Deaf
   by Karen Solomon

   2:00 a.m. Jan. 29, 2001 PST

   Hearing- and speech-impaired persons worldwide have so far been left
   out of the burgeoning world of mobile communications, but a contender
   out of Sweden could bring them into the fold.

   The Mobile Textphone service, a product of Telesta now owned by
   Aspiro, uses a regular mobile phone and a personal digital assistant,
   or the all-in-one phone-and-text-ready Nokia Communicator, along with
   legacy land lines, to enable people with communicative disabilities to
   enjoy the mobility popular in Europe, Asia and North America.

   Unlike the restrictions of short message service messages, the
   textphone service allows two users to type to one another in real time
   and simultaneously, without length limitations.

   However, there are problems with worldwide acceptance of the
   technology -- including regulatory problems that may hamper its
   growth.

   For instance, deployment in the United States has been curtailed
   because the Federal Communications Commission requires carriers to
   issue enhanced 911 services.

   E911 requires that carriers be able to identify the location and
   calling number of mobile telephone emergency calls. For voice calls
   this is possible, but for text messages the phone must use data
   transmission, not voice transmission, thus the E911 identification
   technologies can't make textphone calls FCC-compliant. As a result,
   U.S. carriers can't host the service.

   "Our phone is not a voice service, it's a data service, and data isn't
   defined for emergency calls (in the United States)," said Sverkere
   Abrahamsson, developer for Aspiro and inventor of the Mobile
   Textphone. He is frustrated by this technical glitch that will keep
   the phone out of the country. "Mobile operators have made it possible
   to use 911 for voice, but not for data. Only in the U.S. did this stop
   the service," he said.

   "Digital systems typically have technology designed for voice
   transmission, the algorithm by which they sample and reconstruct voice
   sounds," said Jim Schlichting, deputy chief of the wireless
   telecommunications bureau at the FCC. "Some don't work with TTY
   devices that send out (text data) tones picked up on the other side."

   But, adds Schlichting, "A mobile textphone that would enable deaf and
   hard-of-hearing persons to use mobile wireless is an area the
   commission is very interested in to make it easier for those consumers
   to use mobile phones."
   While no U.S. release date for the mobile textphone is scheduled,
   Abrahamsson says his company is working on adjusting the service's
   ability to transmit 911 calls by voice compression, rather than as
   data.

   "In other countries, they will use it because it's better for a deaf
   person to have a chance to communicate than not at all. We will make
   another effort in the spring."

   Like wired TTY devices, the textphone still requires a relay service
   to speak with users of hearing telephones. If users can't take a call,
   textmail will prompt the caller to leave a text message, just like a
   hearing caller would leave a voicemail.

   Costs for the service in Sweden are about the same as they are for
   hearing persons, with exact costs dependent on the carrier. Pricing
   for the Nokia Communicator all-in-one devices runs around $300.

   While the company won't reveal how many of Sweden's 10,000 deaf,
   hard-of-hearing, and speech-impaired persons are already using the
   textphone, Aspiro hopes to target the world market of 70 million
   potential users, plus their friends, families and co-workers who could
   use the device to communicate with them.

   Carriers Europolitan in Sweden and recently announced Telia Mobile in
   Denmark, are the only operators offering the service at this time.

   There is talk with other operators in Australia, Norway, Finland and
   Germany, said Aspiro spokesman Ronnie Andersson.

   Copyright © 1994-2001 Wired Digital Inc. All rights reserved.


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