TTY Phone Technology - a History

Alexander Graham Bell was born on March 3, 1847 in Scotland. Best known for his invention of the telephone, which helped the entire world converse, Bell was also interested in helping the deaf communicate more effectively. Bell, whose mother and wife were deaf, took a keen interest in communication devices, culminating in the patent of the telephone in 1876. Despite its widespread use, deaf users were unable to utilize the service during Bell’s lifetime. It would take almost 100 years before the deaf could use Bell’s greatest invention to speak with others. As the anniversary of Bell’s birthday approaches, we take a look at how the telephone and TTY technology has changed the way the world communicates.

TTY (teletypewriter) is a device used by deaf and hard-of-hearing people who type messages back and forth. Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) is another service and allows a special operator to type what a user says so that the person he is calling can read his words on a TTY display. He or she will type back a response, which the TRS operator will read aloud for you to hear over the phone.

Robert Weitbrecht, a deaf scientist, is credited with the development of the TTY in the 1960s. Early TTY models had a multitude of problems including their size and price tag. The first TTY machines were the size of a washing machine. In 1968, the entire network of TTY devices consisted of only 25 machines. In the 1970s, large TTY machines were replaced by smaller but still costly upgrades. For the first time, TTY machines featured an electronic screen to display the conversation. Costs, however, were still prohibitive and only 7,000 machines were in use by the mid-1970s.

As technology sped up in the 1980s and 1990s, TTY machines were converted to smaller sizes and produced at lower costs. As a result, today’s TTY machines are much smaller, more portable and less expensive than their clunky predecessors.

New features allow for printing conversations, portability and cell phone compatibility. Although TTY machines had the ability to print since the 1970s, the speed and quality has been improved many times over. Modern TTY devices can also be highly portable – often times small enough to carry in one’s pocket. Additionally, many of today’s cell phones are TTY compatible and can be connected to a TTY machine for mobile service. Even without owning one of the TTY machines, one could still use the technology at one of the thousands of pay phones available in the United States.

Alexander Graham Bell may not have anticipated just how important the telephone would become. Without his innovation, the face of global communication might looks very different today. Bell would be happy to see such widespread use of his telephone today. He might be happier to see that TTY has allowed the deaf and hard of hearing in order to fully communicate with the rest of the world.