A TTY (teletypewriter) is a device that helps people with deafness, speech impairment, or hearing problems to use a phone to communicate. While TTY devices were initially designed for landline phones, today they are used with both landline and cell phones.
In this article, I am going to talk about the meaning of TTY mode on cell phones and how to use them, as well as offer other, more sophisticated options for people with hearing or speech impairments.
What is tty mode on cell phone?
The TTY device is used to communicate by people with speech and hearing impairments. A user with a speech impairment can write a message on a TTY machine and the machine will send a message via phone line or mobile signal. For hearing impaired users, TTY machines and voice will convert this message into a text message so that users can read them.
While the TTY machine sounds like text messaging, its actual functions are more intuitive. TTY machines allow users to communicate continuously as part of a conversation, without receiving updates such as text messages and text messages. During a TTY conversation, messages appear on the other party’s TTY screen without immediate interruption. TTY devices can connect to both landline and cell phones for portable communication.
Today, many cell phones have TTY mode. What does TTY mode mean? Well, TTY mode allows the phone to act as a TTY device. Depending on the phone, it may have built-in TTY software, so you can connect the phone to an external TTY device or both.
Many phones have three different TTY modes: TTY Full, TTY VCO and TTY HCO. TTY full mode allows both sender and recipient to communicate via TTY messages. TTY VCO mode is for hearing-impaired users who can send messages by voice, but need to receive messages on a TTY text display. TTY HCO mode is for users who can receive a voice message but need to send a text message.
How to use TTY mode on cell phone
You can enable TTY mode on both Android phone and iPhone. In this section, I will tell you how to use TTY mode on both operating systems.
How to use TTY mode on iPhone
- Tap on the “Settings” app.
- Tap “General” from the “Settings” menu.
- Tap “Accessibility” from the “General” menu.
- Select “TTY”.
- Choose whether you use the built-in “Software TTY” or if you connect an external device via “Hardware TTY”.
- Exit the home screen.
- Select “Phone”.
- Select the person you want to call.
- When the call screen opens, tap the “TTY” button.
- Type the message you want to send to start the call.
If you have TTY mode turned on your iPhone, you can make calls with or without TTY mode. If you no longer need it, you can also go back to the Settings menu to turn off TTY mode.
How to use TTY mode on Android phones
- Select the “Applications” tab.
- Select the “Settings” application.
- Select “Calls” from the “Settings” app.
- Select “TTY Mode” from the “Calls” menu.
Select the desired TTY mode (TTY Off, TTY Full, TTY HCO, TTY VCO, which are three different types of TTY that I discussed in the previous section).To make a call, tap Back to the main menu. Now you can choose whether you want to call normally or use the selected TTY mode.
To turn off TTY mode means, just follow these steps and select “TTY off” from the TTY mode menu.Alternative communication options for people with speech or hearing impairment. Today, physical TTY devices are quite old. Most people use TTY mode on their cell phones, or this is one of the alternative means to communicate.
