A Video Relay Service (VRS) is a telecommunication service that allows deaf, hard of hearing and speech-impaired individuals to communicate over the phone with hearing people in real-time, using a sign language interpreter. In America, the service is regulated by the FCC.
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How it works
- An individual who communicates by American Sign Language, or another mode of manual communication, such as Signing Exact English, contact signing (Pidgin Signed English), Cued Speech, or Linguistics of Visual English, uses a videophone or other video device, such as a webcam, to connect via broadband Internet to a Video Relay Service.
- The caller is routed to a sign language interpreter, known as a Video Interpreter (VI). The VI is in front of a camera or videophone.
- The video user gives the VI a voice number to dial, as well as any special dialing instructions.
- The VI places the call and interprets as a neutral, non-participating third party. Anything that the audio user says is signed to the video user, and anything signed by the video user is spoken to the audio user.
- Once the call is over, the caller can make another call(s) or hang up with the interpreter.
- The company that provides the interpreter services, will then collect funds from the FCC.
Hearing people can contact a Deaf, Hard-of-Hearing, or Speech-Disabled person via VRS. To initiate a call, the hearing person calls the VRS, and is connected to a video interpreter who then contacts the video user.
Some VRS services also offer:
- Voice Carry Over: The video user may use his/her own voice instead of the interpreter speaking;
- Hearing Carry Over: the video user may listen for him/herself instead of relying on the interpreter;
- Language Preference: The video user requests that the interpreter use American Sign Language;
- the ability to connect to a sign language interpreter who can interpret into another language, such as Spanish.
History of VRS
Building support for trials
Ed Bosson of the Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC) envisioned Deaf people communicating with videophones more than 10 years before the FCC mandated it nationwide. Ed contacted Mark Seeger of Sprint Relay and discussed the possibilities. Mark contacted Sprint technicians to see if Ed’s vision was feasible. They reported that it was, so Ed brought the idea to the Texas PUC.
It took Ed a long time to be able to convince the PUC and get some help from a lawyer in interpreting. First, Ed convinced his supervisor and then one-by-one, the Commissioners, that video relay should become a part of statewide Telecom Relay Service offerings. They authorized Ed to manage the first video relay service trials. Sprint was the first service provider to conduct the Texas video relay tests. Bosson would later receive national awards from Smithsonian Computerworld and TDI for his work with VRS.
Initial trials
In 1995, the first trial was run by Sprint in Austin and was limited to four public call centers.
The second trial occurred in 1997 and served ten cities in Texas. At that point, Sprint and Hanwave Interpreting partnered to provide service. Jon Hodson of Sorenson Communications worked with Ed Bosson during the early stages and provided video conferencing software during the VRS trial in Texas. (At this point the service was called "Video Relay Interpreting" or VRI, which a name that now refers to Video Remote Interpreting. Linda Nelson is credited with changing the term from VRI to VRS.) Later, Hanwave Interpreting Service was bought by Communication Service for the Deaf, and Sprint expanded their relay subcontract to include VRS services in addition to the established TRS services.
In 2002 Washington and Texas tested a web based VRS statewide, with CSDVRS providing VRS services via the Internet to Washington state.
Nationwide implementation
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In 2000, VRS officially became available throughout the state of Texas. In 2002, the FCC allowed for the reimbursement of interstate VRS providers via the interstate TRS fund administration, becoming the second country after Sweden to federally subsidize VRS nationwide.
VRS regulation in the United States
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is the regulatory body for VRS in the United States. In addition to overseeing VRS, the FCC also oversees Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS), from which the VRS regulatory framework has evolved. The FCC oversees TRS and VRS as a result of their mandate in the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) to facilitate the provisions equal access to individuals with disabilities over the telephone network.
Funding for VRS is provided via the Interstate Telecommunications Relay Fund, which was created by the FCC, originally to fund TRS services. Funding for the TRS comes from a tax on the revenue from all telecommunications companies operating in the US. The tax on revenue is set by the FCC yearly and has been steadily increasing as the number of VRS minutes continues to climb. For 2007 the tax is 7.2/100ths of a penny per dollar of revenue, up from 3.8/100th of a penny in 2000. The current revenue tax of .0072 is expected to generate $553 million against telecommunications industry revenue of $76.8 billion. The fund is managed by National Exchange Carriers Association (NECA), which also administers the much larger Universal Service Fund and publishes the reimbursement rates paid to providers.
In addition to regulating the funding of VRS, the FCC regulates the standards that VRS companies and their employees must follow in handling calls. These regulations ensure that VRS calls are handled appropriately and ethically.
The FCC-issued rulings include:
- The time it takes an interpreter to answer an incoming VRS call. As of July 1, 2006, VRS providers must answer 80% of calls within two and a half minutes. Starting on January 1, 2007 VRS providers must answer 80% of calls within two minutes.
- As of January 1, 2006, all VRS providers are required to provide service 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- Reimbursement of VRS Video Mail. If a Hearing person calls a sign language user, but there is no answer, the VI signs a message and delivers it to the sign language user's e-mail, similar to an answering machine. Previously this service was not reimbursed and the cost was absorbed by the VRS provider.
- VRS providers are not permitted to “call back” when a customer hangs up before a VRS call is placed.
- VRS providers must only process calls that either originate or terminate in the US or its territories. For example, a person in Canada may use a VRS service in the United States to call a person in the United States, but not another person in Canada.
FCC Expands Criteria for Common Carrier Reimbursement | the "Certification Program"
On December 12, 2005, the Commission released an order[1] adopting new rules permitting carriers desiring to offer IP Relay and VRS services and receive payment from the Fund to seek certification as a provider eligible for compensation from the Fund. The record reflects that other entities that desire to offer VRS have been unable to join a certified state program (see, e.g., Ex Parte Submission of Daryl Crouse, President, Snap Telecommunications, Inc. (Snap) (July 1, 2005) (submitted by counsel) (Snap Ex Parte) (asserting that Snap, which desires to offer VRS and receive compensation from the Fund, sought state certification but no state expressed an interest)).
(i) a description of the forms of TRS to be provided (i.e., VRS, IP Relay and/or IP CTS); (ii) a description of how the provider will meet all non-waived mandatory minimum standards applicable to each form of TRS offered; (iii) a description of the provider’s procedures for ensuring compliance with all applicable TRS rules; (iv) a description of the provider’s complaint procedures; (v) a narrative describing any areas in which the provider’s service will differ from the applicable mandatory minimum standards; (vi) a narrative establishing that services that differ from the mandatory minimum standards do not violate applicable mandatory minimum standards; (vii) demonstration of status as a common carrier; and (viii) a statement that the provider will file annual compliance reports demonstrating continued compliance with these rules.[ ]
The rules further provide that after review of the submitted documentation, the Commission shall certify that the provider of IP Relay, VRS and IP CTS is eligible for compensation from the Fund if the Commission determines that the certification documentation:
(i) establishes that the provision of IP Relay, VRS and IP CTS ... will meet or exceed all non-waived operational, technical, and functional minimum standards contained in § 64.604; (ii) establishes that the IP Relay, VRS and IP CTS... provider makes available adequate procedures and remedies for ensuring compliance with the requirements of this section and the mandatory minimum standards contained in § 64.604, including that it makes available for its users informational materials on complaint procedures sufficient for users to know the proper procedures for filing complaints; and (iii) where its service differs from the mandatory minimum standards contained in § 64.604, the IP Relay, VRS and IP CTS ... provider establishes that its service does not violate applicable mandatory minimum standards.[ ]
As of 2009 there have been six providers certified becoming eligible for reimbursement from the TRS fund under the rules advocated for by Daryl Crouse and supported by others in the industry.
VRS outside the United States
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France
Viable France was established in 2008 to provide VRS and VRI service in France. France has legislated into a law the establishment of three VRS call centres to serve deaf and hard-of-hearing French consumers. A distinction of Viable France is the sales and distribution of its own videophone product that is fully developed and engineered by the deaf engineers at Viable, Inc.
Germany
TeSS and TeleSign are two VRS providers in Germany. TeSS is largely subsidised by the government with monthly subscription rates while TeleSign is pay-per-use. Both rely heavily on grant funds awarded to the deaf employees by the integration agency.
Sweden
Sweden was the first country to implement a public VRS fully subsidized by the government.
United Kingdom
Significan't (UK) Ltd, a deaf and sign language led social enterprise, was the first to establish an IP Video Relay Service in 2004 in London. SignVideo Contact Centre employs only fully qualified and registered sign language interpreters and passed its 10,000th video call minute in 2006 and has secured national contracts with Access to Work and the National Health Services to provide Video Remote Interpreting services throughout the UK.
Current issues in VRS administration
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- Numbering standardization competing VRS providers have incompatible numbering schemes.
- Interconnection between the IP-based videophone network and the worldwide telephone network.
Video Relay Service providers
United States of America
| VRS Provider | Website | IP Address/Phone number for VP or others | Phone Number for Hearing |
|---|---|---|---|
| AT&T, Inc. | http://www.attvrs.com/ | attvrs.tv | |
| Birnbaum Interpreting Services | http://www.bisvrs.com/ | BISVRS.tv | |
| Communication Access for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inc. | http://www.cacvrs.org/ | xvrs.tv | |
| Convo | http://www.convorelay.com | convorelay.tv | |
| CSDVRS, LLC | http://www.zvrs.com/ | zvrs.tv OR sp.zvrs.tv for VRS en Español | 888-888-1116 (also for VPs) |
| Gracias VRS | http://www.graciasvrs.com/ | graciasvrs.tv | |
| Hawk Relay | http://www.hawkrelay.com/ | hawkrelay.tv | |
| InterWest Relay | http://www.iwrelay.com/ | iwrelay.tv | 866-258-1163 |
| LifeLinks LLC | http://www.lifelinks.net/ | llvrs.tv | 888-744-6526 |
| Nordia, Inc. (Nordia VRS) | http://www.myrelay.com/ | myrelay.tv | |
| Purple Communications, Inc | http://www.purple.us | hovrs.tv/espanol.hovrs.tv (Espanol) | |
| Snap Telecommunications, Inc. | http://www.snapvrs.com/ | call.snapvrs.com | |
| Sorenson VRS | http://sorensonvrs.com/ | call.svrs.tv OR rapidovrs.tv (Espanol de su VP 200) | 866-327-8877 |
| Sprint Nextel, Corp. | http://www.sprintvrs.com/ | sprintvrs.tv | |
| URrelay Inc | http://www.urrelay.com | urrelay.tv VRS | |
| Viable, Inc. | http://www.viable.net/ | viablevrs.tv & sp.viablevrs.tv (VRS en Español) |
France
| VRS Provider | Website | IP Address/Phone number for VP or others | Phone Number for Hearing |
|---|---|---|---|
| VisiO08 | http://www.visio08.com/ | visio08.com | |
| VIABLE France | http://www.viable.fr/ | viable.fr |
References
External links
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