Few people realize that the telephone was developed as a result of Alexander Graham Bell’s experiments with ways to communicate with his deaf wife. The concept of telecommunications for the deaf may sound like an oxymoron – but telecoms infrastructure is fundamental to the delivery of services to the deaf or hard-of-hearing.

Prototype ‘deaf sets’ for the hard of hearing were developed in the 1920s. Later initiatives have included textphones allowing deaf users to communicate with voice users and of course SMS and IRC (Internet Relay Chat) which although not developed specifically for the deaf have proven invaluable tools.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have the potential to give disabled people a chance to communicate with the world on the same basis as the community at large. And while work on improving access to these technologies is not new, the latest advancements are opening a world of opportunities for communication.

ITU-T pioneered international work on standardization of deaf telecommunications with V.18 (an ITU-T Recommendation on a multi-function text telephone)  back in 1990 and will further open up ICT access for the deaf by progressing its work to promote an all-inclusive approach to telecommunications. The organization is also actively promoting existing standards.

As part of this activity, 2003 has seen two ITU-T led workshops on ‘Accessibility’ where attendees were briefed on the current status of standardization for accessibility enabled by multimedia communication as well as on societal support and on practical results from the implementation of all-inclusive communications facilities. Speakers included representatives from standards-making bodies as well as the user community. The first workshop was held in the US in July and the second was one held during ITU Telecom 2003 World Forum in Geneva.

On the first Workshop, Claude Stout, Executive Director of TDI - a consumer advocacy group organized and run by deaf people: "The ITU-T workshop on accessibility was one of the most popular activities at the 15th Biennial International Conference of Telecommunications for the Deaf, Inc. this July in Las Vegas, Nevada. The panelists gave interesting, thought-provoking research and information about making telecommunications products and services compatible throughout the world between individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing, and the rest of society. These possibilities will further bridge cultural, language, and technology differences in various countries throughout the world. This brings us closer to experiencing an accessible ‘global village’ where everything ‘local is global’."

The first example of a mass-produced telecommunication device for the deaf was developed by Robert Weitbrecht, a deaf physicist, in 1964. A radio ham he was familiar with the way teleprinters communicate over the air, and realized that these machines could be used by deaf people to ‘talk’ over the phone. He developed and patented a modem which, when coupled to a teleprinter, allowed them to do just that. Mechanical printers have been largely replaced by portable devices using LED or LCD displays. By the early eighties 180,000 were in use, and they continue to be used today.

But, according to Beat Kleeb, presenter at the second workshop and president Procom Foundation - organization in charge of Relay Services in Switzerland: "Text telephones are getting to the end of their life cycle. We have long sought for a reliable new communication system based on new technology. Finally, we chose a distance real-time audiovisual and text communication system called teleSIP that has been tuned for the needs of our community in particular for distance interpreting with sign language and with text. This will cover the requirements for the deaf, for deafened and hard of hearing people within a single system."

However according to Andrea Saks, international telecommunications specialist for the deaf, textphones are far from being dead technology: "Textphones don’t seem to want to die." Saks argues that the logistics involved in getting every deaf or hard-of hearing person to switch over to one type of – new - device are prohibitive. Interoperability between new and old devices she says is key. It’s a sentiment that reflects ITU-T’s general philosophy and certainly its work in the accessibility arena. Saks communicates regularly with a textphone and reminds us that if new communications methods do not support old terminals, then thousands of users will find themselves with obsolete technology. Ronald Hermann, President of the Swiss Federation of the Deaf, points out that while the ‘regular’ telephone remains in every home and office there is still a place for textphones.

Nelly Meraud, an ITU employee attending at the Geneva workshop and an advocate of new generation technologies, says: "Communication technology has greatly advanced in the last few years, which is very beneficial for us deaf people. SMS, e-mail, IRC tools like MSN Messenger enable deaf people to cope alone, without the help of a hearing person. They have been developed not to enhance the audio aspect but to better communicate using visual tools, which is important."

Meraud says that the workshop introduced a number of concepts that she was not aware of and that she feels are important for the deaf community. The Wireless Information Services for Deaf People On the Move (WISDOM) project is developing mobile videophones, and is funded by the European Commission Directorate. The development work concentrates on a new device that will allow mobile communication in sign language, a video server so that deaf people can download clips onto their mobile phones and a relay interpreter service to allow deaf people to communicate with hearing people wherever they are.

Total Conversation is an ITU-T defined concept that encompasses voice telephony, video telephony and text telephony. The idea is that it gives everyone the chance to communicate with one another regardless of whether they are hearing, hearing impaired or deaf. Efforts have been made to incorporate these principles into the development of many ITU-T standards (Recommendations). Text over IP (ToIP) (developed in ITU-T Study Group 16) is an example of these efforts. Its objectives are to bridge two PSTN networks via IP, allowing for simultaneous character-by-character text communication – this would enable textphones to communicate over an IP network. The ultimate goal of ‘Total Conversation’ is to allow any device to support the transmission of video and or text signals. This could include a PC or PDA user connected to an IP network chatting with the user of a textphone.

The good news is that Total Conversation principles are already being incorporated into products. A number were demonstrated at both ITU workshops.

ITU will continue to engage and educate through its standardization work and further workshops, manufacturers, network and service providers and governments on the need for standardization to ensure equitable access to telecommunication through new and old technologies. This need for standardization is underlined by Ronald Hermann: "We think that standardization has a very significant role to play in the development of telecommunication tools for us all. It is the only way to ensure affordability, accessibility, compatibility, portability and availability."