CapTel

CapTel stands for “captioned telephone”.  It is ideal for people with some degree of hearing loss and works like any other phone with one important addition: it displays every word the non-CapTel user says.  

CapTel users place a call the same way as dialing a traditional phone.  As they dial, the CapTel automatically connects to a captioning service.  When the other party answers, the CapTel user will hear what is said just like a traditional phone.  As they talk a specially trained operator at the captioned center transcribes everything the other party says into text, using the latest of voice-recognition technology.  The text appears on a bright, easy-to-read display window built into the CapTel phone.  The captions appear almost instantly with the spoken word, allowing the CapTel user to understand everything that is said—either by hearing or by reading it.