Background New technologies and services in wireless communications are very promising for people who are deaf and hard of hearing. Although voice communication predominates, other wireless services, such as alphanumeric paging and Internet access, are mostly visual in nature. With access to mobile telecommunications, people do not need to worry so much about whether there is an accessible pay phone nearby when one is needed.
New terminals combine data and voice communications in a single device .
But the new digital cellular telephone services present new problems that have not been present in the older analog cellular telecommunication systems. Most do not have standardized jacks that will plug into the audio or telephone jacks in TTYs. Analog wireless systems still exist and are relatively accessible to people who use hearing aids and TTYs. But the industry trend is away from analog and toward digital technologies and services. Analog service is becoming harder to find and is more expensive than digital service.