SALT LAKE CITY, July 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- For the 48 million Americans experiencing hearing loss, using the telephone is a big deal. No one knows this better than Hank Schmiede, who uses a CaptionCall phone. Schmiede, who lives in Romulus, Michigan, says, “I was not able to use the telephone for several years. New expensive hearing aids did not help. I had given up using the phone completely. I now answer the telephone without a problem and again feel connected to the world.”
Helping people feel connected is the end goal of CaptionCall, the leading provider of captioned telephone service. On the thirtieth anniversary of the signing of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), which eventually led to provisioned captioned telephone services, the Utah-based company is reminding the nation that these services are available at no-cost to anyone who has hearing loss that necessitates the use of captions to use the phone.
“When you pay your phone bill, which includes a small fee, you are in an indirect way supporting the programs and services that make real the promise of the ADA,” notes CaptionCall CEO Scott Wood. “Those programs include crucial communication services that enable hard-of-hearing Americans to communicate on the phone independently.”
Captioned telephone service – technically called Internet Protocol Captioned Telephone Service (IP CTS) – was approved in 2007 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the governmental body that oversees telecommunications services, to provide access to functionally-equivalent telecommunication services for people with hearing loss.
“The Americans with Disabilities Act put people with hearing loss on an even playing field in the workplace and in public places,” notes Barbara Kelley, executive director of the Hearing Loss Association of America, the leading advocacy organization for those in the U.S. who experience hearing loss. “Thirty years later, it remains an important tool, but people still need to know about technologies and accommodations available and how to ask for them."
This is especially relevant for U.S. veterans as well as the increasing numbers of baby boomers experiencing age-related hearing loss. According to estimates, one in six boomers has some degree of hearing loss, but only about 25 percent of people in that demographic are proactively seeking help.
“The ADA is really for all of us and getting help to better communicate is a crucial part of what the ADA is all about,” notes CaptionCall Chief Marketing Officer Paul Kershisnik. “Caring for one’s hearing is paramount because although sound enters our ears, hearing really happens in the brain. So hearing is important for our cognitive health.”
The CaptionCall phone displays in real time the words of the conversation on a large, easy-to-read screen. CaptionCall’s red carpet service – with the option for contactless, guided self-installation – and ongoing technical support enable people with hearing loss to communicate confidently on the phone.
For more information about CaptionCall, visit www.captioncall.com or call 877-557-2227.
CaptionCall, LLC
CaptionCall is the industry leader in the provision of captioned-telephone service that is available at no-cost to anyone who has hearing loss that necessitates the use of captions to use the phone. While hearing loss affects millions of people for many different reasons – age, illness, injury, loud working conditions, and military service – it doesn’t have to limit the quality of their phone conversations. With CaptionCall, it’s easy to communicate confidently with friends, family, and colleagues.
CaptionCall uses advanced voice recognition technology, a transcription service, and human captioning agents to quickly provide written captions of what callers say on a large, easy-to-read screen. The CaptionCall phone works like a traditional telephone – callers simply dial and answer calls, as usual, and speak and listen using a phone handset. CaptionCall users see captions of what callers say.
All eligible customers receive Red Carpet Service that includes professional installation, product training, and friendly customer support, enabling people everywhere to get more from their phone conversations – and more from life.