What is TTY Mode? 🤔How do I turn TTY mode on or off?

TTY mode is a mobile phone feature known as a teletypewriter, or we can say text telephone. A teletypewriter is a device that enables people who have speaking difficulties or hearing issues to communicate appropriately.

TTY makes communication easier by converting the audio signals to text or words that can be seen on the mobile screen.

In addition, TTY works visa-versa and can send your text as an audio message by encoding the texts to audio signals. Generally, on your mobile, you can set TTY mode easily, and you can also use it on a web browser by adding an extension.

You need to install adequate extensions or add-ons with initial setup to get TTY mode working on a web browser. Here I know everything including details of what is TTY mode on different smartphones and how to set TTY mode. 

What Is A Teletypewriter?

Have you ever thought about how people have hearing or speaking disabilities that will communicate over cell phones? 🤔

Technology always helps us solve the problems of anyone, and TTY (Teletypewriter) is one such feature that helps people who have speech-impaired problems, hearing problems, and those who have had hearing issues. Here we will discuss everything about TTY mode on the cell phone. 

TTY (Teletypewriter) is a kind of legacy device that has a display on it and converts the text that is submitted on the device into audio signals. You can use the device with a cell phone for better communication.

Users need to type the message, and it will show on the TTY device display and convert it into audio signals once you submit the typed message. Audio signals are sent to the cell phone. Cell phone and teletypewriter devices are connected with TTY cable.

The receiver can receive the message via text on the cell phone or teletypewriter device. However, TTY SMS communication needs an active digital telephone line or internet data service. 

What Is TTY Mode On A Cell Phone? 🤔

Now, you know what TTY is and let us discuss how it works on a cell phone. Nowadays, many mobile handsets have TTY mode, and the mobile works as a TTY device once you are on the TTY mode on your cell phone.

Mobile may have in-build TTY software or features else you need to connect the TTY device with it.  Now, you get to know the clear understanding of what is TTY mode.

TTY mode on the cell phone has various types, and users can set it according to their requirements. Mainly three types of TTY mode are available on mobile handsets. If you count off mode, then it has four types of mode. 

Types of TTY Modes On Cell Phone:-

TTY Off:

TTY Off mode indicates that the user has not yet enabled the TTY mode. Users can turn the TTY mode off when they don’t want to communicate via Teletypewriter messages. 

TTY Full:

TTY full mode is used when both the communicators have hearing or speech impairments. When both the devices at the sender and receiver devices have enabled the TTY full mode, all the messages will be sent and received as a text message. In such a situation, users need no audio as all the messages will be in text format only. 

TTY HCO:-

TTY HCO(Hearing Carry Over) sends text messages into audio signals. The sender sends the text messages, and the receiver can hear the audio of the messages on the TTY device. Speech-impaired people mostly use this mode.

When the receiver has no speech-impairment issue, but the sender has, then the communication can be done in TTY mode in a better way.

In such conditions, the receiver will send replies in audio form, and the sender will revert in text form that will be encoded in an audio message through the TTY device. 

TTY VCO:-

TTY VCO (Voice Carry Over) works as a speech to text converter program. The sender will send the audio message, and the TTY VCO mode converts it into texts. Hence the receiver receives a text message on his device.

TTY VCO is used by the people who have hearing Impairment issues. In addition, all the audio conversions are converted into text form. Telecommunication Relay Service (TRC) facilitates users in the US to communicate with individuals who have a hearing impairment and even don’t have a TTY mode enabled device.

They provide excellent service, and all the operators are trained for converting audio messages into text. 

How To Set TTY Mode On Cell Phone

1. Touch the “Settings” app.
2. Tap on  “General” from the “Settings” menu.
3. Tap on  “Accessibility” from the “General” menu.
4. Choose “TTY.”
5. Select if you will use the built-in “Software TTY” or attach an external device through “Hardware TTY.”
6. Exit to the home screen.
7. Select “Phone.”
8. Select the person you want to call.
9. Tap the “TTY” button once the call screen opens. 
10. Type the message you’d prefer to send to initiate the call.

Users can make the calls with TTY or Without TTY whenever you turn the TTY mode on. Users can turn off the TTY mode on their cell phones whenever there is no longer a prolonged need for TTY mode. 

How to Manage TTY Mode On An Android Phone

1. Select the Applications tab.
2. Select the Settings.
3. Choose the Call option. 
4. Select the TTY mode.
5. Choose the coveted TTY mode (TTY Off, TTY HCO, TTY Full,  TTY VCO, three different types of TTY I discussed in the previous section).

Get back to the main menu to call anyone, and before making the call, you can select the options for calling with TTY or without TTY. However, to turn off the TTY mode, users can select the TTY off option from the TTY mode menu. 

Disable TTY Mode

To cripple the TTY mode in Android gadgets, simply take after all means, and under the cancel settings, select TTY.

Here is Quick Way to Turn OFF: Tap on Dialler Icon > Three Dots > Settings > Call Settings > TTY OFF

So, folks, these were the means to empower or impair TTY Mode on the wireless.

If you are not hard of hearing or hearing weakened, then we will propose you don’t change the TTY setting on the telephone. Only leave this setting to “OFF.”

TTY Mode On A Samsung Galaxy Series:-

Deaf or hard of hearing individuals can use a TTY device with their smartphone by allowing the TTY feature. Samsung facilitates easy to turn off or on settings for TTY mode. Follow the steps given here to turn off the TTY mode once you complete TTY calls. 

Step-1: Go to Home screen of the Samsung Galaxy Series mobile

Step-2: Click on the home screen 

Step-3: From the keypad tab, the select menu icon

Step-4: Click on settings and select and tap the call option. 

Step-5: Find the TTY mode option from more settings options. 

Step-6: Choose the TTY mode according to the way of communication and tap on it. 

Advantages Of TTY Mode

TTY mode enables the sender and receiver to communicate flawlessly without constant intrusions of writing up messages. It is a content informing feature.

Sometimes, people want to discuss the mobile without disturbance, and it may not be easy for individuals who have speech or hearing impairment. TTY mode makes it happen because the sender and receiver need not wait for the messages to be typed.

Individuals can communicate over the call using data service, and wireless and convenient TTY devices will be used to make a call anywhere with the essential requirement of Internet connection or digital telephone line. 

What Happens If You Turn Off TTY Mode On Your Cell Phone?

Long-distance communication for hearing and speaking impairment individuals becomes comfortable with TTY mode or TTY enabled devices and they should know what is TTY mode and how it works.

Ensure that both the parties, sender, and receiver have TTY devices like a particular TTY device or TTY mode enabled on a mobile phone. Moreover, both parties can do active discussion without interruption instantly.

In-text messages, you need to wait for the receiver’s reply, and it consumes time as both need to type messages every time. Well, the TTY feature uses some particular protocol and language that is specially designed for instant communication.

However, signals like GA are used to indicate when to start speaking or when to wait for a reply from the receiver. GA is for the go-ahead that is seen at the end of the message or sentence. GA indicates another individual’s turn to speak or reply. Let’s get into the TRS and enabling and disabling of TTY mode on the device. 

TRS:-

TRS (Telephone Relay Services) is the service that encodes and decodes text to audio and audio to text. It allows the not-hearing person to check a message on display in text form that is converted according to the audio message sent by the other party.

Also, individuals who can not speak properly can send text messages, and on the other hand, the receiver party will hear the audio signal accordingly. Well, before the TTY devices, the Telephone Relay Services was running through the operators.

Operators are well trained to convert your audio message to text and vice-a-versa quickly. Nowadays, technology has replaced the operators, and human speech recognition software is used. So, human errors had been rectified in such software to enhance the accuracy of the service. 

Enabling TTY:-

TTY devices need to be connected with the phone through the TTY cable. Users can connect the TTY device with cell phones through the headphone jack and TTY cable. But the only connection is not enough; the user has to turn on the TTY feature on their phone.

All mobile devices have this option but check once before purchasing any new device if you frequently use the TTY feature. In addition, all the devices have different settings options, so you should check the manual or on the website to enable TTY mode if you are not familiar with the new mobile.

Generally, you can enable the TTY mode from the General Settings menu of the cell phone. Make sure that TTY mode is on the cell phone before connecting it with the TTY device.

Users can turn off the TTY mode anytime because when TTY mode is on, you will not get the usual messages, and even you can not do standard calls. It may also happen that you are not allowed to access some of the applications on your smartphone with an Android or iOS application because of TTY mode.

So, one should turn on TTY only when required and turn off back once you are done with your communication through messages (text or audio). 

Disabling TTY:-

Now, you know what TTY mode, types of TTY mode is and how to enable TTY on the cell phone. You should turn off or disable the TTY mode promptly to use all the normal m=messaging and calling services.

But when TTY mode is off, users are no longer allowed to make TTY calls or send messages through TTY service. So, users need to be on the TTY mode prior before making TTY calls.

No matter how many times you enable or disable the TTY mode, users can operate the mobile smoothly. Well, there will be no other adverse effects on the cell phone of disabling TTY mode, mobile works fine with standard settings.

Etiquette of TTY:-

Well, TTY technology enables both the sender and receiver parties to send and receive the message but not simultaneously. Sender or receiver, only one can send the message at a time.

So, we can say that the TTY technology is a one-way communication at a time. Well, it becomes difficult when both users are discussing something, and they don’t know whether the user, on the other hand, has finished his sentence or not.

So, TTY mode users use some kind of shorthand. Nowadays, you might have seen short messages like ASAP, NP, etc. on chatting, indicating messages like as soon as possible, no problem, etc. TTY mode users also use such kind of shorthand like GA for Go ahead.

In radio communication, the user used to say over once he did with the speech, and it indicates that now the receiver can respond to him.

When you call any deaf or hard of hearing person, wait for a longer time to receive the call as he can not hear the ring at once. Start your conversion with GA, and SK is the shorthand to indicate the call is over, and you have stopped typing from your end. SK is for stopped keying defines the end of the conversation.  

Alternative Options For Communication For People With Speech Or Hearing Impairments

Well, today’s world seems to be implemented on a small device that is a smartphone. Mobile devices have replaced many things and changed the way of communication.

For example, in older days, people need to turn on the computer and Wi-Fi connection to send or receive emails. But now people can send or receive on their mobile with ease. Most of the services are in application format, and you need no computer or even laptop to access such services.

So, TTY devices are now out-dated because voice and text technology has developed that enables users to convert speech to text.

In addition, WhatsApp and Facebook messenger-like applications allow users to do video calls, and you can communicate easily without any interruption if you have adequate data service for calling. Here are some alternatives to TTY devices that help people to communicate without TTY devices. 

Text Messaging:-

Text messages on mobile or other messaging applications like WhatsApp or messenger allow users to send and receive messages to communicate with text messages and images and videos.

Text messaging becomes one of the most accessible ways of communication, especially for individuals having hearing and speech impairment. In addition, the text messaging facility is available in-built in mobile, and it doesn’t need extra setup. 

Video Calling:-

Facetime, WhatsApp video calling, Skype, and Google Hangouts are some new edge applications that allow users to do video calling.

Video calling technology makes it so reliable that you can see and express your feelings with anyone who matters to you the most. Well, it’s the same as face-to-face communication because you can read another person’s gesture.

People have heard, and speech issues can express their emotions in sign language over the video calling. Video conferencing can be used when more than two people want to communicate like a group meeting or group discussion. 

Video Relay Services:-

Video Relay Service enables individuals to communicate over the video, and they need not type everything. Well, Video Relay Service is a type of Telecommunications Relay Service.

Users need video equipment that helps them to connect with the TRS operator for video calling. The conversation is much faster than the TRS service. Hence it is getting popular. 

Can You Interact With A Hearing-Impaired Person If You Don’t Possess TTY?

New-edge technology has imparted the whole world in a small device called mobile, and yes, you can communicate with anyone anywhere. The TTY machine is out-dated now. You will not require any particular device to communicate with a deaf person.

But here it is good to know what is TTY mode. You can do video calls and talk with an individual through sign language. Also, TRS (telecommunication relay service) facilitates calling service twenty-four by seven, and operators are trained.

The user needs to connect with the TSR service with the TSR number and ask the operator to connect you with the person you want to communicate with. So, the operator will help you to send your voice message to be sent.

The operator listens to your voice and type on TTY and then sends it to the receiver’s device. The call receiver can check the message on the display of the TTY device. 

📗FAQ’s