TERA

The user can call anyone connected to the global telephone network and receive phone calls from anyone. The other person does not need to use the TERA app, just a normal landline or mobile phone and everything that the other party says appears in real-time text on the TERA user’s screen.

Real-time text is an international standard (ITU-T.140/IETF RFC 4103) that allows text to be sent character by character, not sent as eg SMS text bubbles or chat. This makes it possible for the text to be converted by a Braille reader attached to a tablet or smartphone, eg by Bluetooth, and read by a Deaf-blind user. If the user has a visual disability they can choose the size and color of the letters and the color of the background, so the text can be read as easily as possible.

The user can speak with their own voice, and the other party hears them, but everything the other party says is displayed on the user’s smart phone or tablet as text. It also comes as audio, if the user has residual hearing and wants to listen.

TERA is suitable for calls with organizations that receive calls into a multi-choice interactive voice response (IVR) system that uses a rapid speech rate. In such cases text relay assistants have difficulty keeping up with typing out the choices given verbally. TERA does not have a problem with converting such speech to text.

TERA can be compared to those of us with uncertain hearing who watch a movie with subtitles because some words or sentences can be unclear, especially when we can’t see the character’s face to lip-read them. The same applies to a telephone call, because we can’t see the other person’s lip movements.

TERA is a support tool regardless of the severity of a person’s hearing loss.

Users who can hear but not speak well or at all, can type what they want to say to the other party and a natural-sounding synthesized voice will speak to them what you have written.

When both the speech-to-text and the text-to-speech features are used at the same time, they solve the problem for groups who can neither hear nor speak.

• Prepared introductions: When speech-impaired people call someone who does not know they cannot speak well, the other party often hangs up after a short time because they think it is a prank call. With prepared introductions (pre-defined text), the TERA user can introduce themselves first, then they can continue their conversation.
• Space-saver: Because tablets and mobiles are short on screen space the text-chat field can be removed from the screen for video calls. If the other party writes to you or you write to them during the video call, the chat field pops up with the text.
• Fixed fields: If you use the text-to-speech feature, there is only one chat field visible on the screen where you will see the text of what the other party says or to type into. There are no unnecessary fixed fields that take up screen space.
• Lost and found: If you are lost or are talking to emergency services, TERA lets you send the GPS co-ordinates of your location at any time during a call, no matter where you are.
• Hot keys: The hot-key layout lets you set up favorites with a photo of the person or just a generic head and shoulders outline.
• Online correction: Real-time text can be deleted if you make a spelling mistake and you can correct the text even after it has reached the recipient. TERA can correct its own mistakes.
• Built-in answers: TERA provides built-in video answer and built-in text answer in the application.
• Smart watches: You can connect smart watches or other smart devices using Bluetooth so users can be alerted to an incoming call. Rather than a single alert, the app will send notifications continuously, as long as the device is ringing.
• Missed calls: If you do miss a call, or decide not to answer the call, you get only one notification of a missed call from the caller in the history rather than multiple notifications generated by the continuous alert feature.
• Customizing colors: User-defined text and background colors apply in video-call text, TERA speech-to-text conversion or when users write in a text-to-speech situation.
• Answering calls: Users with poor vision use the maximized answer key setting so they can press anywhere on the screen to answer calls. This is especially important when commonly used applications have small answer buttons.
• Large icons: Larger icons can be set up for visually impaired people to use during calls.
• Essential buttons: Some users, especially the elderly, can become nervous about having too many buttons displayed during a call. A TERA feature can be set so only the essential icons are presented.
• Braille settings: A Deaf-blind control setting can be set to auto-select a series of settings customized for a Braille user who pairs their Braille device by Bluetooth with a tablet or smartphone.
• Deaf-blind to Deaf-blind: This group can then write to the other party using their Braille pad in real-time text. TERA reads their writing and speaks it out. When the other party answers, they get it as a real-time text and can read the answer in Braille.
• Deaf-blind introductions: Deaf-blind users require more time during a call, so it’s especially important to be able to send a pre-defined message, so that the person being called will be patient, knowing the communication process will take longer than with a caller who has normal vision and hearing.
• Locked-down app: Users with multiple disabilities, reading disabilities, or anything that causes them to have difficulty in dealing with the in-app settings, can be given a locked-down app so they use only the most basic features and will call only a selected range of people or organizations specific to their needs.
• Encryption: All communication between the TERA application in a user’s tablet or smartphone, and T-Meeting’s TERA speech to text/text-to-speech server is encrypted. If one makes a video call with other T-Meeting solutions, there is both signaling encryption and media encryption.
• Call features: The system provides the flexibility to be able to call the other party in multiple ways – via the keypad, using the call history, using the contacts list, or via the favorites buttons.