AIM Relay Services
America Online (AOL) announced the launch of AIM Relay Services, a new service which builds Instant Messenger (IM) service within the deaf, hard-of-hearing and speech-disabled communities by allowing users to connect to telecommunication relay services to place relay telephone calls directly from their AOL Buddy List or AIM Buddy List.
AIM Relay Services can be accessed from any computer or wireless device running an AOL or AIM client free of charge to AOL members, AIM users and Apple iChat users.
Telecommunications relay services facilitate telephone communication for users who are deaf, hard-of-hearing or speech disabled. Traditionally, to place a relay call, the caller would connect with a Relay Communications Assistant using a TTY device and type in the number they want to call. The Assistant then places the call and relays the conversations back and forth between the two parties, reading the caller's text to the hearing recipient and typing the recipient's voiced response back.
AIM Relay Services provides an additional access point for telecommunication relay services. To use AIM Relay Services, users add the relay vendor's designated screen name to their Buddy List feature and then send an instant message to the vendor with the ten-digit phone number they would like to call. Once connected with a Communications Assistant, the call proceeds as a traditional relay call, except using instant messages instead of typing text into a TTY device.
AIM Relay Services on the desktop also support the ability to place video relay calls where the caller and the Communications Assistant communicate in American Sign Language through a webcam.
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