COURTESY PHOTO
Jane Knox works at one of the stations at Sprint's new call center to relay messages to the deaf and hard of hearing.
Phone service
adds local touchA new relay center helps
speech-disabled callers in
Hawaii transmit messages
Speech-disabled islanders no longer have to go through mainland translators -- who have sparse Hawaii knowledge -- to make telephone calls.
Communication assistants who understand Hawaiian words, place names and pidgin are handling calls in a speech-to-speech relay service for people who are deaf, hard of hearing and have speech disabilities.
"Feedback from the users has been very positive, and the STS minutes are increasing, indicating satisfaction with the service," said Jane Knox, TRS (Telecommunications Relay Service) account manager for Sprint Relay Hawaii.
The state Public Utilities Commission awarded a contract to Sprint for the services last spring after Verizon withdrew from the program.
Verizon had operated the service with translators in Virginia under an AT&T contract. Frustrated Hawaii users and representatives protested that the translators couldn't understand pidgin or ethnic dialects, and lobbied the utilities commission for a change.
Sprint launched the service in July and officially opened a call center with 16 local telecommunications specialists Nov. 20 in the Pacific Business News building at 1833 Kalakaua Ave.
They received at least 80 hours of training, and "they know how to spell 'Kalanianaole,'" said Knox. "They know what laulau is, and they can properly relay directions using descriptions like 'go mauka to Kapiolani, then Diamond Head again to Kalakaua.'"
Bob Segalman, of California, who has a speech disability related to cerebral palsy, founded the speech-to-speech service, and the Federal Communications Commission mandated it in all states in 1991.
Segalman came here last August to demonstrate the system and said in an interview he wouldn't have come if he had known how bad it was.
He praised the Sprint system in a recent e-mail, saying: "The communication assistants answer calls quickly and understand Hawaii dialects and Hawaii place names. There should be no problem ordering a pizza, even if you live on Kalanianaole Highway or maybe the makai side of Kamehameha Highway in Haleiwa."
Knox said Sprint also has given Hawaii advanced relay technology called CapTel, which makes use of the telephone more natural for people with hearing loss who use their own voice. It works like any other phone but displays the caller's words on a display window on the phone.
Its computerized voice recognition dictionary has been programmed with local words and idioms, said Knox.
Before Sprint took over the system, Knox, who is deaf, said she was limited to a text telephone device and traditional relay service.
"Today my office looks like a B-movie set filming another techno-geek epic," she said, describing new communication products, including a CapTel phone. She doesn't speak, but uses the new phone to retrieve voice-mail messages and access phone-based banking, she said.
Segalman said the goal is to inform people of the free service who have cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, Parkinson's disease, stroke, a brain injury or other problems hampering speech. An estimated 11,000 people could benefit from the system.
People can access the services by dialing 711 or logging onto www.sprintrelayonline. com or www.sprintvrs.com for online or video relay services.
The call center operates from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday. On weekends and overnight, Hawaii calls are routed to a special "gate," a group of communication assistants trained in Hawaii names at a Tucson, Ariz., call center.
