Report: Findings from the Telecommunications workshop

Technology should enable deaf, hard of hearing, speech-impaired and deafblind people to communicate effectively and in an equivalent way as hearing people can do. This can only be achieved through a proper understanding of user requirements.

The conference has identified the following items as top priorities in telecommunications for deaf, hard of hearing and speech-impaired people:

1. The introduction of character-by-character based interactive texting solutions that work across networks and platforms, are as cost-effective and offer fully equivalent functionality as voice telephony for hearing people.
2. Action must be taken to reduce the interference of mobile and wireless handsets with hearing aids.
3. Mobile phones must offer a better user experience through high-quality microphones and speakers in combination with better volume controls and offer standardised connections for hearing loops.
4. Access to relay services and emergency services in an appropriate manner must be addressed forthwith.

The conference calls on policy makers and regulators to create, in co-operation with all stakeholders, a European Action plan that will:

1. Establish a strategy to make sure the needs of deaf, hard of hearing and speech-impaired people will be take into account by all stakeholders, including the industry, at every stage of mainstream product design, manufacturing, as well as in every legislative and regulatory exercise.
2. Set-up and fund a European project to develop and deliver an integrated mainstream interactive text application that works across networks and platforms
3. Support and fund the creation of relay services (text, speech, video) in those member states where they are currently not available and ensure that national relays can work across member states' boundaries by adopting recognised standards. The problem of funding needs to addressed through universal service obligations.
4. Take legislative and regulatory action - as precedented by a recent FCC regulation in the USA - to urgently address the problems of interference with hearing aids.

The conference also urges policy makers and other stakeholders to adopt the technical framework as established by the INCOM report for the implementation of interactive texting services through T.140/RFC2793 with proper call setup and routing. This framework is based on open standards, is economically and practically viable, and has been proven to work already in the form of open-source reference implementations. The improved user experience of interactive texting will benefit all users.

Similarly, global platforms for additional modes of communication must be provided in a similar fashion, based on open standards. This includes video communications for sign languages users and systems that support multiple modalities.

The EU also needs to take measures to ensure that access to terminals is captured in a legal and regulatory framework, and that universal service obligations take this into account.