TTY (Text Telephone)

TTY, or Text Telephone, is a device that allows individuals, particularly those who are deaf or hard of hearing, to communicate over the phone using text instead of voice. Users type messages on a keyboard, and the text is transmitted over phone lines to another TTY user or a standard phone user via a relay service. This enables real-time conversation by converting text to speech and vice versa. TTY devices often feature a screen for reading messages and are equipped with a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) for broader accessibility.