A feasibility trial of a bureau-based telephone service for the deaf

In the autumn of 1980, a 6-week experimental trial of a telephone service for deaf people was carried out with the financial support of NRD, British Telecom, RNID and in collaboration with the Electronics Department at Southampton University. The trial involved 25 deaf people with speech who were supplied with Prestel TV sets which allowed them to receive text from an operator at the bureau who set up the call connections and transcribed the speech of the hearing caller into text. The text was transmitted via the telephone network and displayed on the participant's Prestel receiver. The deaf callers used their telephones in the normal fashion to make their replies. Although the trial had its fair measure of problems, particularly at the start, the experiment proved to be successful. This paper describes the system used for the trial, the trial itself and also attempts to evaluate the requirements of a bureau-based telephone service for the deaf.