A CapTel USB: Helping People With Hearing and Vision Loss to Enjoy the Phone
By Morgan, Jackie; Deaf-Blind American, Vol. 46, No. 4, pp. 27-29Publication Date: October-December 2007
Article describes a telephone service enabling people with hearing and vision loss to have telephone conversations by reading captions of the phone call on their computer screen. CapTel USB, which looks and works like a regular telephone, hooks up to the user’s computer to display the captions on the monitor. The size, color, and font style of the captions can be controlled by the user. Captions on the computer monitor can also be seen with other reader equipment and be saved or printed as a text file. A captioning service, provided free of charge to the user, automatically comes online when a call is placed, and its operators transcribe the spoken words into written text using computer voice recognition technology. The text of the conversation is transmitted to the CapTel USB phone and appears on the user's computer monitor in real-time. The CapTel USB phone requires a standard analog telephone line or DSL with an analog filter, Windows 2000, Windows ME or Windows XP to run its software, and an available USB port on the computer.
Assistive Products Discussed: CAPTEL USB
Published by: American Association of the Deaf Blind (Website:http://www.aadb.org)
