Patent ID: 8335308

Claim:
A method for attenuating a dialing confirmation tone comprising: receiving, at a telephone, a first key sequence from a user on a keypad of the telephone; entering a program mode in response to receiving the first key sequence; receiving, at the telephone, an enable signal comprising a second key sequence while in the program mode; enabling a dual-tone multiple frequency (DTMF) attenuation mode in response to receiving the enable signal; receiving a third key sequence from the user on the keypad of the telephone, the third key sequence initiating a telephone call; generating at least one DTMF tone in response to the third key sequence; communicating the at least one DTMF tone to a telephone line; attenuating, in response to enabling the DTMF attenuation mode, a signal level of the at least one DTMF tone by a predetermined amount to produce at least one attenuated dialing confirmation tone; communicating the at least one attenuated dialing confirmation tone to an audio output device in communication with the tactile user input device; and after the telephone call is disconnected, automatically returning to a default mode in which DTMF tones are not attenuated.