VRI adds visual dimension for the hearing-impaired >BY Larry Luxner, Special to Telephony

Up until three years ago, deaf people couldn't communicate by phone at all. Then came telecommunications relay services, which relayed conversations around the country but still required the hearing-impaired to type their questions and answers on a keyboard fitted to a dedicated phone line.

Now a more natural and efficient system known as video relay interpreting (VRI) may soon be put into practice, say officials at both Sprint and the Federal Communications Commission.

VRI allows hearing- and speech-impaired people to communicate using American Sign Language while sitting at a desktop computer with video capabilities. A Sprint interpreter relays the conversation in voice or sign language back and forth with the person being called.

"The technology itself is in general use. It's becoming more and more widespread," said a Sprint spokesman. "Sprint provides added value in the training of the video relay operators."

VRI was most visible during the Olympics last month when gold medal swimmer Tom Dolan communicated via video relay with Tommy Parker, a deaf student at Washington, D.C.'s Gallaudet University. Parker, accompanied by FCC Chairman Reed Hundt, placed the call from FCC headquarters to Dolan in Atlanta via a videoconference link to a VRI center in Houston.

The event, sponsored by the FCC's Disabilities Task Force, commemorated the third anniversary of the TRS launch and the sixth anniversary of the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act, which mandated that Americans with hearing and speech disabilities have access to standard voice telephone service.

Shortly after the event, Hundt called TRS the fastest-growing type of communications today. "Soon, in one or two years, it'll be possible for two deaf people to talk to each other without an operator. One year ago, this wouldn't have been possible," said Hundt.

Although TRS services were growing more common even before the passage of the Telecommunications Reform Act of 1996, Hundt used the service as an example of the one of the benefits the act makes possible. Citing provisions of the law, Hundt said that of the $250 billion in revenues generated by telecom companies each year, "we put $240 million into a common fund to underwrite the cost of relay services all over the country. It's inconceivable that market economics could have made such a call affordable without government intervention."

Last year, VRI was successfully tested during a 30-day trial in Austin, Texas, conducted by Sprint, Southwestern Bell and the Texas Public Utility Commission. On Sept. 1, Sprint will launch a second trial-this one lasting 90 days and covering 10 sites across the Lone Star State.

"Current relay calls rely on the typing speed rather than the speaking speed," said Sprint Customer Relations Manager Mark Seeger. "Even though the initial cost may be higher for video, if the conversation time is shorter, it may be worth that investment because you're cutting down on talk time."

While no state has actually purchased the service from Sprint, several-including California, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia-have expressed interest.