Hearing or Speech Impairment Phone App

An app designed to help people with hearing or speech impairments make phone calls have been relaunched.

15:49 29 November 2019

BT’s Next Generation Text service has been relaunched with a new name and now offers a simpler set-up process. Called Relay UK, the app has been designed to help people with hearing or speech impairments make phone calls by translating text to speech and vice versa with the help of trained assistants.  

 

Jesal Vishnuram, technology manager at Action on Hearing Loss, said: “There are currently 12 million people in the UK who experience hearing loss and using the telephone remains a big barrier for them to communicate with friends and family, at work, with health care providers, banks and other services,” 

 

“Relay UK provides a vital text relay service to help people communicate by phone with the use of a text relay assistant in real time.

 

“This service can be pivotal in keeping people with hearing loss and deafness in employment, access healthcare including emergency services and other services as well as help keep them in touch with friends and family.”