What is a TTY (text telephone/TDD)?
Looking much like a typewriter keypad with a text screen, a TTY allows an individual who is deaf, hard-of-hearing or has a speech difficulty to make and receive telephone calls. The conversation is read on a lighted display screen and/or a paper printout on the TTY. Persons using a TTY may call any standard phone user by placing the call through Telecommunications Relay Service, or they may call another TTY user directly. There are two general types of TTYs. Acoustic TTYs have cups where a standard telephone handset is placed to receive or place the TTY call. Direct connect TTYs are directly connected to a telephone line. Using a TTY To communicate by TTY, you type the message you want to send on the TTY’s keyboard. As you type, the message is sent over the phone line, just like your voice would be sent over the phone line if you talked. You can read the other person’s response on the TTY’s text display. Using the Telecommunications Relay Service – 711 If you don’t have a TTY, you can
