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Messaging with
a TTY (Teletype) and the AUDIX TTY Interface
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This page provides information about the optional TTY messaging feature
on INTUITY AUDIX LX. All information is contained on one html page for
ease of printing and distribution. The page contains the following topics:
What is a TTY?
A TTY (Teletypewriter) is a data terminal that makes it possible for
people with communication disabilities to use a telephone. The typical
TTY resembles the keyboard of a laptop computer. Instead of a large
screen, though, most TTY’s have a one-line or a two-line alphanumeric
display. A TTY sends and receives special audio tones known as Baudot
code. The TTY translates this code into text and sends the text to the
alphanumeric display.
Another name for a TTY is Telecommunication Device for the Deaf (TDD).
The term TTY is preferred.
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Getting started with the AUDIX TTY user interface
The TTY user interface is an optional feature of the Avaya INTUITY™
AUDIX® Multimedia Messaging System and the Avaya DEFINITY® AUDIX®
Voice Messaging System. The TTY user interface makes nearly all the
messaging features that are available to spoken-language users available
to TTY users. With the TTY interface users can send, receive, and respond
to TTY messages with AUDIX in the same way that spoken-language users
send, receive, and respond to voice messages.
TTY mailbox owners can:
- Use the TTY format for all AUDIX menus, prompts, and messages
- Use AUDIX to answer incoming telephone calls with a TTY greeting
- Use the multilingual greeting feature to let their callers leave
either a TTY or a voice message, and choose between TTY and voice
prompts from AUDIX
AUDIX also supports the mixed use of voice and TTY in the same call,
for example, a Voice Carry Over (VCO) session in which a user records
a voice message after he or she receives a prompt in TTY format. The
capability to mix voice and TTY in the same call is important because
of the many hearing-impaired people who speak intelligibly. These people
require a TTY to receive but not to transmit.
Important information for users
This section includes important information and prerequisites for users
of the AUDIX TTY interface.
Getting the recommended hardware
You must be able to do push-button or “touchtone” dialing
in the middle of your call to use AUDIX. Many TTYs, such as the Avaya
Model 8840, can generate touchtones to dial a number. However, users
might not be able to access these tones after a TTY call is established.
For this reason, we recommend that you use a touchtone telephone together
with the TTY. Many Avaya telephones have a built-in auxiliary RJ-11
jack, or can be equipped with a jack, to which you can connect a TTY.
AUDIX also works reliably when you use an acoustic coupler to connect
the TTY and the telephone.
Understanding the AUDIX prompts
When you use AUDIX with a TTY, the system displays menus and prompts
on the TTY. These menus and prompts present options and tell you what
to do at each step. Frequently, the instruction you receive is to dial
or enter one or more numbers, letters, or characters. These numbers,
letters, and characters correspond to the buttons on the keypad of your
telephone, not to the keys on the TTY. When you dial these buttons as
the prompts direct, you send commands in the form of touchtone signals
to AUDIX. The only time that you type on the TTY is after you see the
GA (Go Ahead) prompt. To help you distinguish whether you use the keys
on the TTY or the buttons on the telephone, this guide uses the word
dial whenever you must use the buttons on the telephone.
Translating spoken messages
AUDIX cannot translate voice messages into TTY text. If you are a
hearing-impaired TTY user, and you receive a spoken message in your
AUDIX mailbox, we recommend that you forward the message to someone
who can translate it for you.
Note: When a TTY user receives a spoken message,
the TTY might show occasional random characters, but often the TTY shows
no text at all. The best way to distinguish a voice message from silence
is to observe the signal level indicator on the TTY. A steady “no
signal” indication usually means silence. Random fluctuations
usually mean voice.
Getting help with AUDIX
Help is always available with the AUDIX system. At any time, you can
dial * H or * 4 to determine where you are in the system and to see
a list of available options. If you need more help, ask your system
administrator.
Note: An AUDIX mailbox is configured differently
for TTY than for voice only. You can help the administrator answer your
questions by telling the administrator that you use a TTY.
Important information for administrators
This section includes important information for administrators of TTY-enabled
AUDIX systems.
Setting up a TTY account
Ensure that you set up the AUDIX account for TTY users with multilingual
greetings, and not with multiple personal greetings. Use the TTY announcement
set for both the subscriber’s login language and for the primary
call-answer language. For the secondary call answer language, allow
the mailbox owner to choose one of the spoken announcement sets.
Telling TTY users about login options
Tell TTY users whether the * R / * 7 option (the relogin option) is
available from within the call-answer user interface. See Logging
in to AUDIX for why this is important.
Ensuring that TTY users receive login announcements and broadcast
messages
The AUDIX system sends spoken login announcements and spoken broadcast
messages to all mailboxes on the system, even the TTY mailboxes that
belong to hearing-impaired users. You must ensure that TTY users receive
these voice messages promptly in an acceptable format.
A few limitations of the TTY communication protocol that affect
AUDIX
Listeners who use AUDIX for voice messaging can adjust the playback
rate of a message or move from one part within the message to another
part of the message. These options do not work with the AUDIX TTY user
interface because these options interfere with the signaling between
AUDIX and the TTY. For example, if you change the playback rate of an
AUDIX TTY message, you also change the baud rate of the transmission.
This puts AUDIX and the receiving TTY out of synchronization.
See Troubleshooting the TTY interface for information
on other TTY-related problems that users might encounter.
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Logging in to AUDIX
Most AUDIX systems provide two ways to log in:
- Option 1: dial your own extension
- Option 2: dial AUDIX directly
When you follow option 1 and dial your own extension to log in, all
AUDIX prompts and messages are in TTY format automatically. If option
1 is not available on your system, you must use option 2 and dial AUDIX
directly. Option 2 is less convenient than option 1 because AUDIX answers
your call with spoken prompts, and does not switch to TTY prompts until
after you identify yourself as a TTY user. Ask your system administrator
if you do not know whether option 1 is available.
Login option 1: dial your own extension
- Dial your own telephone number.
Allow AUDIX to answer. Your TTY displays the greeting for your mailbox.
- Dial * R or * 7 on the telephone
keypad.
Note: You do not need to wait until the end of the
greeting. You can interrupt a TTY message from AUDIX.
Your TTY displays a message that begins, “Welcome to AUDIX.”
- Dial your extension, and then dial #.
- Dial your password, and then dial #.
You are now logged in. Your TTY displays your name and whether you
have new messages. Your TTY then displays a menu of options. To choose
any of these options, dial the appropriate key on your telephone.
Login option 2: dial AUDIX directly
- Dial the telephone number of the AUDIX system.
When AUDIX answers, AUDIX plays a spoken (not TTY) message that begins,
“Welcome to AUDIX.”
Note: The signal indicator light on your TTY flickers
to indicate that AUDIX answered. If you cannot determine from the
signal indicator on your TTY whether AUDIX answered, wait 10 seconds
after you dial and then continue with Step 2.
- Dial your extension, and then dial #.
- Dial your password, and then dial #.
You extension and password identify you as a TTY user. Thus AUDIX
changes from spoken prompts to TTY prompts. You are now logged in.
Your TTY displays your name and whether you have new messages. Your
TTY then displays a menu of options. To choose any of these options,
dial the appropriate key on your telephone.
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Using the AUDIX TTY user interface
This section describes how to:
- Record and send messages
- See and respond to the messages that you receive
- Record the greetings that callers see when AUDIX answers the telephone
for you
Important! Remember that you can hang up the telephone
at any time to end an AUDIX session.
To record and send messages - dial 1
To record and send messages:
- Log in to AUDIX.
- Dial 1 to tell AUDIX that you want to record and
send a message.
- When your TTY displays the GA prompt, type your message. When you
finish, dial #.
- Dial the extension of the person to whom you want to send the message,
and then dial #.
Your TTY displays the name of the person to whom you want to send
the message.
Note: If the person’s name was recorded for
AUDIX by voice instead of TTY, nothing appears on your TTY. If you
are sure that you entered the correct extension, continue with Step
5.
Note: If the name that the TTY displays is incorrect,
you might have entered the wrong extension. Dial * 3
or * D to delete the address, and then repeat Step
4.
- If you want to send the same message to another person, enter the
extension of that person, and then dial #. Repeat
Step 5 for all persons to whom you want to send the same message.
- When you finish addressing your message, dial # #.
The system transmits your message and returns you to the main menu.
To get messages - dial 2
To get messages:
- Log in to AUDIX.
- Dial 2 to tell AUDIX that you want to see the messages
that other people sent you.
Your TTY displays the “header information” about the first
message. This information includes when the message was delivered,
who sent the message, the message length, and whether the sender marked
the message as priority or private, and so forth.
- To see the message, dial 0. (It’s okay to
interrupt the header information.)
Note: Dial the number zero, not the letter O.
Note: You do not need to wait until the end of the
greeting. You can interrupt a TTY message from AUDIX.
- Perform one of the following actions for the message that you see:
-
- If you want to replay the header information, dial 2
3.
- If you want to replay the message from the beginning, dial 0
(zero).
- If you want to respond to the message or forward the message
to another person, dial 1. AUDIX tells you what
to do next.
- If you want to delete the message, dial * D
or * 3.
- If you want to save the message in your mailbox, dial #.
- Your TTY displays the header information for the next
message in your mailbox. Perform one of the following actions:
- Repeat Step 3 and Step 4 for this message, and then for all
other messages in your mailbox. AUDIX returns you automatically
to the main menu when there are no more messages in your mailbox.
- Dial * R or * 7 at any time
to return to the main menu.
To administer greetings - dial 3
When you do not answer a call, AUDIX answers your telephone for you
with a greeting that you record. TTY users must record two greetings,
a primary greeting for TTY callers and a secondary greeting for non-TTY
callers.
- The primary greeting. When AUDIX answers the telephone
for you, AUDIX plays your primary greeting. Therefore, we recommend
that your primary greeting contain both voice and TTY components.
Use the first few seconds of the primary greeting to provide a brief
voice message. Tell callers that they reached a TTY mailbox, and to
dial “star one” (* 1) to leave a voice
message. Then add a TTY recording to your primary greeting that contains
whatever information you want to include.
- The secondary greeting. The secondary greeting
is the greeting that callers hear after they dial star one (*
1). The secondary greeting is intended for hearing people
only, so you must provide a voice recording for this greeting.
Recording a primary greeting
To record a combined spoken and TTY greeting for your primary greeting:
- Log in to AUDIX.
- Dial 3 to select greetings administration.
- Dial 1 to select the primary greeting.
- Dial 1 to record or to re-record the primary greeting.
- When you see the GA prompt on your TTY, use the handset of your
telephone to record the brief spoken portion of your greeting.
Important! Keep the spoken portion of your primary
greeting short so that TTY callers do not think that they reached
the wrong number.
The following message is an example of what you might record:
“This is a TTY mailbox for John Smith. To leave a voice message,
dial star one now.”
- Dial 1 immediately to stop recording.
- Hang up the handset, or if you use a TTY with an acoustic coupler,
put the handset back into the coupler.
- Dial 1 again on the telephone keypad. When you
see the GA prompt, type your TTY greeting.
The following message is an example of what you might type:
“John Smith is not available. Please leave a message after you
see the GA prompt. When you finish, you can hang up or dial one for
more options.”
- Dial # immediately to stop recording and approve
your greeting. Dial # again to return to the main
menu.
Recording a secondary greeting
To record a secondary, spoken greeting:
- Log in to AUDIX.
- Dial 3 to administer greetings.
- Dial 2 to administer the secondary greeting.
- Dial 1 to record or to re-record your secondary,
spoken greeting.
When you see the GA prompt on your TTY, use the handset of your telephone
to record your spoken greeting. The following message is an example
of what you might record:
“John Smith is not available. Please wait for the beep and then
leave a message. When you finish, you may hang up or dial one for
more options.”
- Dial 1 immediately to stop recording.
- Hang up the handset, or if you use a TTY with an acoustic coupler,
put the handset back into the coupler.
- Dial # to approve your recording, then dial #
again to return to the main menu.
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Troubleshooting the TTY User Interface
This section tells you how to correct some common problems that
might occur with the TTY interface to AUDIX. If these suggestions
do not correct the problem, ask your system administrator for help.
| Problem |
Possible cause |
Potential solution |
| You see typographical errors and missing characters in AUDIX
messages. |
AUDIX transmissions might not be loud enough for your TTY.
|
While AUDIX is playing back a message from your mailbox (not
while AUDIX is prompting you or presenting a menu), dial 4
on your telephone to make the transmission louder. |
| While AUDIX is transmitting messages to you, the system does
not respond to the telephone keys that you dial. |
AUDIX transmissions might be so loud that AUDIX cannot “hear”
your touchtones. |
Wait until AUDIX stops transmitting a message (not a menu
or prompt) to you, and then dial 7 on your
telephone to make the transmissions softer. |
| You see random characters, numbers, and punctuation marks
on your TTY instead of meaningful text. |
Your TTY is out of synchronization with the AUDIX system.
In other words, one device is in “letters” mode
while the other device is in “figures” mode. |
Press the letters key on your TTY. If your TTY does not have
a letters key, type any letter on your TTY. If you see letters
where you expect to see numbers, press the figures key on your
TTY or type any digit. |
| When other TTY users try to read something that you have recorded
on AUDIX, they see random characters, numbers, and punctuation
marks instead of meaningful text. |
The TTYs of these users are out of synchronization with the
AUDIX system.You can usually prevent this by typing a few special
characters at the start of your recording. |
If your recording begins with a letter, press the letters
key before you start to type. If your TTY does not have a
letters key, type a slash (/) and press the space bar a few
times, and then start typing.
If your recording begins with a figure, press the figures
key. If your TTY does not have a figures key, type the letter
x and press the space bar a few times, and then start typing. |
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