Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS) play a critical role in serving customers who are D/deaf or hard of hearing. From customer service calls to state of emergency communications, ensuring your team is trained on the use of TRS will improve your ability to serve your customer base.
What are relay services?
The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) defines TRS as a service that provides "persons who are deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind, or have speech disabilities to communicate by telephone in a manner that is functionally equivalent to telephone services" used by persons without disabilities.
Relay services are free to use and available in all U.S. territories for local, long-distance, and international calls.
Relay services are federally funded, available in every state, and can be accessed by simply dialing 711.
How are relay services used?
Relay service providers act as communication intermediaries between persons who use speech and those who use other forms of communication, like ASL and captioning.
When a person with a hearing or speech disability dials 711 to connect with a TRS communications representative, they are asked for the number of the person or organization they would like to call.
The TRS representative will then attempt to process the request and connect the caller with the person or organization they have requested. If connected, the TRS representative will interpret or caption the call to facilitate communication between both parties.
Here is an example of a typical relay call:
- A caller who uses a text input device contacts relay services
- The caller provides the number of who he or she wants to call
- Relay representative dials the number
- If the call is answered, the representative will say "Hello, this is the relay service, have you received a relay call before?"
- If either party has not used relay services before the representative will provide instructions to participate in the call and act as the intermediary, relaying the text to the caller in voice, and converting back what the other party has said to text or ASL for the caller.
The FCC published a consumer guide that lays out the various types of TRS, which include:
- Text-to-Voice TTY TRS
- Voice Carry Over
- Speech-to-Speech Relay Service
- Shared Non-English Language Relay Services
- Captioned Telephone Service
- IP Captioned Telephone Service
- Internet Protocol Relay Service
- Video Relay Service (VRS)
Relay services can also be used to contact persons with communication disabilities by dialing 711 and providing the number of the person they wish to connect with. The service can be used by both parties in the same way.
TRS etiquette tips
The Northern Virginia Resource Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Persons wrote at length about TRS social rules. As noted earlier, people may receive calls in which the caller states they are a relay operator and ask if the receiver has gotten a relay (TRS) call before. The Center emphasized that call receivers should absolutely not hang up on these callers. Instead, people should let the communication assistant explain the TRS call process and then have a call with the Deaf or hard of hearing person.
The Center suggested that call receivers take note of the caller’s phone number, because their number may be different from their communication assistant’s. If call receivers need to call callers back, they should “dial 711 and give the caller phone number to the Communications Assistant. They will connect you.”
The organization recommends that call receivers stay patient if the other participants pause to type the conversation. Call receivers should speak clearly and not overly fast. In addition, call receivers should speak directly to callers, not their communications assistant.
Training on TRS
Ensuring your staff is trained to properly use relay services will not only ensure that your organization provides the most effective communication and inclusive customer service, but may also save lives.
In 2016 Hurricane Hermine and Matthew devasted Florida coasts for weeks, leading to many being trapped in their homes searching for transportation, food and other provisions, and medication. One emergency operations coordinator who was interviewed for this article commented "there were dozens of people with communication disabilities who could not reach emergency officials because many were not trained in the use Florida Relay. Fortunately, we were able to quickly remedy this issue and reach all callers after it was identified that messages left were by relay operators. Ultimately, we were able to use relay services to reach those in need, identify their locations, and evacuate them before transportation assets went offline."
Given that relay services are easy to use and provided at no cost to the individual or organization, we recommend readers visit the FCC's relay landing page to identify their local relay service to better understand how they can effectively communicate with their customers and community.
To learn more about effective communication and telecommunication services, check out our Accessible Customer Service Training for Virtual Customer Service Teams.
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