A new broadband-enabled video phone opens up opportunities for the deaf community, brings far-flung families together, and helps businesses stay in touch. Users describe the experience as more like a visit than a phone call.

“Hi, this is Joshua,” said the voice at the other end of the phone.

We spent a minute going through the usual pleasantries before I did a double-take. “But who's speaking?” I asked.

There was a slight pause before the answer. Then the voice said, “I am -- Joshua. You're not hearing my actual voice, but you're hearing the words I'm saying.”

"You're not hearing my voice, but you're hearing my words."

The voice belonged to Daryl Crouse, an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter and president of Snap!VRS, a Charleston, South Carolina–based video relay service (VRS) for the deaf. But the person I was speaking with was Joshua Shaffner, a Web developer for Goodwill Industries in Maryland. Shaffner and Crouse were using Internet-connected Ojo Video Phones to communicate in ASL, while Crouse talked to me in English over an ordinary phone line. Shaffner is one of the pilot users of Snap!VRS’s new service.

Relay services, which help the deaf participate on an equal footing in the hearing world, are nothing new. We all pay for them through the Universal Service Fund charges on our phone bills, and the services are provided free to the deaf by suppliers certified by the Federal Communications Commission. The first relay services used teletype technology, which was slow. “The conversations were so long,” Shaffner says. With the advent of the Internet came video relay services, using webcams and video chat software like Microsoft NetMeeting or Apple iChat.

Video speeded up the conversations, according to Shaffner, and was a much less intrusive technology. Since interpreters don’t always introduce themselves unless they're of a different sex from the caller, the hearing party isn't necessarily aware that the call is being relayed.

Taking Video Relay to a New Level

The Ojo video phone took video relay services to a new level, Shaffner says. The phone plugs directly into any broadband Internet connection (cable, DSL, FTTH, Home Plug, satellite, BPL, WiFi or WiMax) without going through a computer, and its use of the new H.264 compression algorithm makes it less vulnerable to Internet congestion. Unlike earlier video phones that were plagued by delays and breakups, the Ojo can deliver high-quality video at a consistent 30 frames per second. Shaffner says, “It’s more comfortable, it’s quicker, the video is much smoother and clearer. It’s easier to dial. And I don’t have to repeat myself.”

The Ojo's ergonomic "chin-up" design allows callers to look straight ahead at the camera.

With the new video phones, Shaffner has become more productive. Working in what he calls a “just-in-time” work environment and collaborating with consultants in California and elsewhere, he is often called on to attend teleconferences, which were difficult for him before.

Now, he says, he can join in meetings, even impromptu ones, and feel equal to his peers. “As a Web developer, I want to take on more responsibility,” he says. “Any way I can do that is good.” His non-work life has also become easier, now that tasks like making a doctor’s appointment are less onerous.

Crouse, whose career as an interpreter has spanned every kind of event from births to business meetings, confirms that video relay services are tremendously empowering for the deaf community; they are opening up job opportunities in fields like technology and accounting that were once difficult or impossible for the deaf to work in.

Changing Lives in the Deaf Community

Video phones are changing lives in the deaf community in other ways, too. Aequus Technologies, the parent company of Snap!VRS, is using Ojo phones for video remote interpretation (VRI) – interpreting for the deaf in face-to-face situations. Unlike VRS, VRI isn't publicly subsidized, but employers may pay for the service to accommodate deaf employees; it is more cost effective and more flexible than hiring in-person interpreters.

Aequus’s pilot VRI project, in a state government agency, has had good results. According to Aequus EVP David Dinin, VRI has allowed deaf employees to take customer-facing jobs that wouldn't normally have been available to them.

Aequus has also placed an Ojo phone, on a trial basis, at a major U.S. airport, so that deaf travelers can reach an interpreter. Dinin envisions putting phones in kiosks at banks, post offices, sports arenas, malls, and other heavily-trafficked spaces. “Wouldn't it be nice [for a deaf person] to have a kiosk in a bank, so you could talk to the bank teller?” he asks.

Of course, interpreters aren't necessary when ASL signers use video phones to call other ASL signers. VRS users with Ojo phones can communicate directly with one another, and hearing people can purchase the phones from the manufacturer, WorldGate Communications, and subscribe to its VoIP service in order to communicate with deaf friends and family.

"You forget that you're doing this on a video phone. You think they're across the table."

Maire Reavy, director of systems engineering at Trevose, Pennsylvania-based WorldGate, was one of the first ASL signers to use the phone. As a hearing person with several deaf relatives, she was asked to demonstrate a call with a sign language teacher.

“The fixed frame rate and the H.264 codec allow a person to see subtle changes in body language and eye movements,” she says. “When you use the Ojo, you're on it for five or ten minutes, and then you forget you're doing this on a video phone. You think they're across the table. We call it an ‘Ojo moment.’”

Eating Dinner, Remotely

The caller's picture appears at the bottom of the screen.

While video phones can be life-changing for the 8 million deaf and hard of hearing, they are life-enhancing for others. Employees at WorldGate and Aequus have experienced firsthand the impact of video phones on far-flung families.

Jamie Press, WorldGate’s public relations director, finds that her two-year-old son knows his California grandparents from his daily video chats with them. Press says, “Every time he walks by the Ojo, he says, ‘More Nana!’ It’s one thing to hear about kids’ first steps, and another thing to see them.”

Another WorldGate employee who was on the road much of the time for several months made time to have dinner every night with his pregnant wife, via video phone.

“Ninety percent of communication is nonverbal,” says Hal Krisbergh, CEO of WorldGate. “So it’s not just an enhancement to a telephone call, it’s a whole new thing.”

WorldGate is optimistic about the Ojo’s appeal not only to consumers but to businesses. According to Krisbergh, small companies are buying the phones to maintain closer communications within their businesses. Some are even giving the phones to customers they work closely with.

Today, the market for the Ojo is limited by its expense -- $250 or more, depending on the model – and by the fact that it can make video calls only to other Ojo phones. (It can make audio calls to any phone.)  

With lower prices and more interoperability, video telephony may become widespread. Probably its best chance to reach a mass market is for broadband providers to resell the service to their customers. WorldGate is in discussions with several broadband providers about doing exactly this. “A lot of them see it as a real differentiator,” Krisbergh says.