Messaging with a TTY (Teletype)

This page provides information about the optional TTY messaging feature on Modular Messaging. All information is contained on one html page for ease of printing and distribution. The page contains the following topics:

• What is a TTY?
• Getting started with the Modular Messaging TTY user interface
  • Important information for users
  • Important information for administrators
• Logging in to Modular Messaging
  • Login option 1: dial your own extension
  • Login option 2: dial Modular Messaging directly
• Using the Modular Messaging TTY user interface
  • To record and send messages - dial 2
  • To get messages - dial 1
  • To administer greetings - dial 4
• Troubleshooting the TTY user interface

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 Modular Messaging TTY user interface

The TTY user interface is a language pack that is included with Modular Messaging US English. 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 Modular Messaging 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 Modular Messaging menus, prompts, and messages
• Use Modular Messaging 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 Modular Messaging

Modular Messaging 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 Modular Messaging 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 Modular Messaging. 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. Modular Messaging also works reliably when you use an acoustic coupler to connect the TTY and the telephone.

Understanding the Modular Messaging prompts

When you use Modular Messaging 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 Modular Messaging. 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

Modular Messaging cannot translate voice messages into TTY text. If you are a hearing-impaired TTY user, and you receive a spoken message in your Modular Messaging 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 Modular Messaging

You can see a list of menu actions by reviewing the Modular Messaging At-A-Glance (pdf), available on the Modular Messaging Documentation CD. Modular Messaging repeats any menu listing if you press 0. If you need more help, ask your system administrator.

Note: A Modular Messaging 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 Modular Messaging systems.

Setting up TTY for your system and for the subscriber

On the Messaging Application Server (MAS), ensure that:

• The US English language set is installed. See for Configuring Languages more information.
• DTMF keys 1 and 2 are administered for US English and for US English TTY, respectively. See Language/Key Association properties - Auto Attendant for more information.

Provide the subscriber with the Subscriber Options application. Subscriber Options allows visual administration of many mailbox settings. Instruct the subscriber to use Subscriber Options, Telephone Access tab, to set the Preferred Language to English (United States) - TTY.

Telling TTY users about login options

Tell TTY users whether the * login option is available from within the call-answer user interface. See Logging in to Modular Messaging for why this is important.

Ensuring that TTY users receive broadcast messages

The Modular Messaging system sends 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 Modular Messaging

Listeners who use Modular Messaging 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 Modular Messaging TTY user interface because these options interfere with the signaling between Modular Messaging and the TTY. For example, if you change the playback rate of a Modular Messaging TTY message, you also change the baud rate of the transmission. This puts Modular Messaging 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 Modular Messaging

Most Modular Messaging systems provide two ways to log in:

• Option 1: dial your own extension
• Option 2: dial Modular Messaging directly

When you follow option 1 and dial your own extension to log in, all Modular Messaging prompts and messages are in TTY format automatically. If option 1 is not available on your system, you must use option 2 and dial Modular Messaging directly. Option 2 is less convenient than option 1 because Modular Messaging 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

1. Dial your own telephone number.

   Allow Modular Messaging to answer.

2. Press the correct DTMF number on the telephone keypad. On most systems, the TTY DTMF number is 2.

   Your TTY displays the greeting for your mailbox.

3. Dial * on the telephone keypad.

   Note: You do not need to wait until the end of the greeting. You can interrupt a TTY message from Modular Messaging.

   Your TTY displays a message that begins, “Welcome to Modular Messaging.”

4. 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 Modular Messaging directly

1. Dial the telephone number of the Modular Messaging system.

   When Modular Messaging answers, Modular Messaging plays a spoken (not TTY) message.

   Note: The signal indicator light on your TTY flickers to indicate that Modular Messaging answered. If you cannot determine from the signal indicator on your TTY whether Modular Messaging answered, wait 10 seconds after you dial and then continue.

2. If you are calling from your office extension, dial your password, and then dial #.
3. If you are calling from someone else's extension or from outside your organization:
   • Do one of the following:
     • If the extension does not have an associated mailbox, dial #
     • If the extension has an associated mailbox, dial * then dial #
   • Dial your mailbox number.
   • Dial your password, and then dial #.

   Your extension and password identify you as a TTY user. Thus Modular Messaging 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 Modular Messaging 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 Modular Messaging answers the telephone for you

Important! Remember that you can hang up the telephone at any time to end a Modular Messaging session.

To record and send messages - dial 2

To record and send messages:

1. Log in to Modular Messaging.
2. Dial 2 to tell Modular Messaging that you want to record and send a message.
3. When your TTY displays the GA prompt, type your message. When you finish, dial #.
4. 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 Modular Messaging 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 * to delete the address, and then repeat Step 4.

5. 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.
6. When you finish addressing your message, dial # #.

   The system transmits your message and returns you to the main menu.

To get messages - dial 1

To get messages:

1. Log in to Modular Messaging.

   Your TTY displays information about how many messages you have and whether they are new or saved.

2. Dial 1 to tell Modular Messaging that you want to see the messages that other people sent you.
   
3. Dial 1 or 2 to tell Modular Messaging whether you want to see voice messages or email messages.

   Your TTY begins to play the first message.

4. Perform one of the following actions for the message that you see:
5. • If you want to see information about the message, dial 5.
   • If you want to replay the message from the beginning, dial 4.
   • If you want to respond to the message, dial 8. Modular Messaging tells you what to do next.
   • If you want to forward the message to another person, dial 6. Modular Messaging tells you what to do next.
   • If you want to delete the message, dial 7.
   • If you want to save the message in your mailbox, dial 9.
   • If you want to skip to the next message in your mailbox, dial #.
5. Your TTY begins to play the next message in your mailbox. Perform one of the following actions:
   • Repeat Step 4 for this message, and then for all other messages in your mailbox. Modular Messaging returns you automatically to the main menu when there are no more messages in your mailbox.
   • Dial * at any time to return to the main menu.
     

To administer greetings - dial 3

When you do not answer a call, Modular Messaging answers your telephone for you with a greeting that you record. TTY users must record a greeting with spoken and TTY instructions that inform the user how to leave a message.

• The spoken portion. When Modular Messaging answers the telephone for you, Modular Messaging 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 1 to leave a voice message.
• The TTY portion. Still recording the primary greeting, add a TTY recording to your primary greeting to tell TTY callers to dial 2 to leave a TTY message.

Recording a primary greeting

To record a combined spoken and TTY greeting for your primary greeting:

1. Log in to Modular Messaging.
2. Dial 4 to select personal configuration.
3. Dial 1 to select the Greetings menu.
4. Dial 1 to record or to re-record the primary greeting.
5. 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 one now.”

6. Dial 4 immediately to stop recording.
7. Hang up the handset, or if you use a TTY with an acoustic coupler, put the handset back into the coupler.
8. Dial 2 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.”

9. Dial # immediately to stop recording and 1 to approve your greeting. Dial * 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 Modular Messaging. If these suggestions do not correct the problem, ask your system administrator for help.