FCC Consumer Guide: Video Relay Services

The benefits of VRS

VRS offers several features not available with the text-based forms of TRS:

• VRS allows those persons whose primary language is ASL to communicate in ASL, instead of having to type what they want to say.

• Because consumers using VRS communicate in sign language, they are able to more fully express themselves through facial expressions and body language, which cannot be expressed in text.

• A VRS call flows back and forth just like a telephone conversation between two hearing persons. For example, the parties can interrupt each other, which they cannot do with a TRS call using a TTY (where the parties have to take turns communicating with the CA).

• Because the conversation flows more naturally back and forth between the parties, the conversation can take place much more quickly than with text-based TRS. As a result, the same conversation is much shorter through VRS than it would be through other forms of text-based TRS.

• VRS calls may be made between ASL users and hearing persons speaking either English or Spanish.