About Maryland Relay

I'm Rebecca  "Becky" Ladew, a member of the  Maryland Governor's  Advisory Board for the  Telecommunications Relay (GABTR).
Members of this organization consist of  people who are deaf, hard of hearing, speech disabled, deaf-blind, mobility disabled with hearing and/or speech impairment. I represent the speech disabled. GABTR works closely with the staff from the Telecommunications Access of Maryland, TAM, in the Department of Budget and Management, which is responsible for making rules  and regulations for Maryland Relay.

Maryland Relay is a unique service because it enables me, as one who has a speech disability, to  be independent of anyone who would do the communicating  or calling for me.

Maryland Relay provides three services for the person with a speech disability. The three services are TTY-To Voice, Hearing-Carry-Over (HCO), and Speech-to-Speech (STS). One can utilize one or all three at their satisfaction.

For TTY-To-Voice and HCO calls one must have a device called a TTY (as pictured). This device is a text telephone, which transmits text messages when typed, and it looks like a regular typewriter keypad with a text screen. The text messages are displayed on a back-lighted screen. One must have some typing skills to use a TTY. 

TTY-TO-VOICE

The first service is TTY-TO-VOICE relay. This service is one where a person uses a TTY to type a message to the relay operator (or a communication agent). The relay operator voices the typed message to the hearing person on the other end of the conversation. The relay operator then types what the hearing person says to the TTY user. This service is the oldest of all relay services, and the first to be created for the deaf community.

HEARING-CARRY-OVER (HCO)

The second service is HEARING-CARRY-OVER (HCO). This service allows one to hear the person being called, but the TTY user types their end of the conversation, which is read to the other person by the relay operator. With HCO, one can hear people's voices and background noises just like a regular phone call, but the operator only voices what the TTY user types from the TTY. This makes the conversation faster and more natural. One can hear people's voice inflections, and people can speak at the normal speed because the relay operator isn't typing what they say. Hearing people's voice inflections gives phone conversations a more personal effect.   (See HCO diagram below.)

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