Glossary

A telecommunication service that allows deaf, hard of hearing and speech-impaired individuals to communicate with hearing and speaking people in real-time using a sign language interpreter. The concept of VRS was envisioned by Ed Bosson from the Texas Public Utility Commission more than 16 years ago. Bosson contacted Sprint Relay and discussed possibilities. Three years later the first trial was run by Sprint in Austin, limited to 4 public call centers, and 6 years later (1998) Washington and Texas tested VRS statewide. In 2002 the FCC started to regulate VRS in the US, and also to fund it via the Interstate Telecommunications Relay Fund.

In a nutshell, this is how it works: The deaf person calls a special call center, using a video-enabled endpoint, located in his home. An interpreter (VI, short for Video Interpreter) sits in front of a camera in that call center, waiting to accept his call. The VI then places a call (regular call) to a third party, according to the deaf person desire. The VI will then translate from/to sign language and talk to the third party at the same time.