Home A TTY is a keyboard telephone with a text screen that allows the user who is Deaf or Hard of Hearing to type their side of a conversation. A Virginia Relay Communication Assistant (CA) will read their words aloud to the other person and type the responses back to the user.
Voice Carry-Over (VCO) allows a user who is deaf or hard of hearing to speak directly to the other person on their call. When the other person speaks, a Virginia Relay Communication Assistant (CA) types everything for the VCO user to read on his or her text display.
Hearing Carry-Over (HCO) allows people with significant difficulty speaking to call anyone (standard telephone or Videophone user) and vice versa. During an HCO call, the person who has difficulty speaking types his or her side of the conversation on a TTY or similar device and the Virginia Relay Communication Assistant (CA) voices the typed words to the other person. When the other person responds, the HCO user listens directly to what is being said.
HCO can be used with callers who use a Video Relay Service. The CA would voice the HCO user’s typed words to an interpreter, who will sign the conversation to the VRS user. The interpreter will voice the signed response directly to the HCO user.
HCO callers can type directly to another TTY user, or call through Virginia Relay and the CA will voice the TTY user’s typed words.
Speech-to-Speech (STS) is for people with mild to moderate difficulty speaking who can hear clearly over the phone. During an STS call, a specially trained Virginia Relay Communication Assistant (CA) listens to everything the STS user says and re-voices it verbatim to the other party. When the other person responds, the STS user listens directly to what is said. Visually Assisted STS is also available with a Skype account.
All of our Relay Features are also available in Spanish. Spanish-to-Spanish and Spanish-to-English options are available for in-state calls only.
Standard telephone users can place and receive calls to Relay users through Virginia Relay by dialing 7-1-1 and providing the phone number of the Relay user they are trying to reach.
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FOIA | Web Use | Accessibility
At a minimum, this web site meets Section 508 and at least Level A Conformance to WCAG 1.0. On January 18, 2017, the U.S. Access Board published a final rule as the new standard for website accessibility. The rule requires adherence to the new accessibility standards twelve months from its date of publication. VDDHH is working towards WCAG 2.0 Level AA compliance.
The goals of the VDDHH's accessibility plan are:
