SMS a Gift for the Deaf
Published: Jun 20, 2007Research at the Bond University, Australia on text-based mobile messaging could bring good news for the deaf in the US if cellular carriers would agree to improve interoperability between networks.
The report “Everyone Here Speaks TXT,” by Australian researchers found that in the US and Canada, deaf people are sending text messages mainly to each other through two-way pagers. This is because network interoperability is based on GSM technology and telephone network interoperability is written into the law. Issues with network interoperability have stunted the growth of SMS in the US, meaning many mobile handsets in the country are simply incapable of sending messages back and forth.
“The deaf have taken to this technology as an answer to their prayers,” researchers wrote in the recently released report, “Everyone Here Speaks TXT.” “Where the mobile-phone service providers have agreed to interconnect their networks, (deaf people) can take their means of communication with them as far as they can go and reach anyone who has a mobile phone.”
The hope is now that the main mobile phone providers in the US will start negotiations on network interoperability to introduce true accessibility of mobile communications for all users.
Source: Wired News
