What exactly is a TTY, TDD and/or text telephone? Is there a difference?
With all the acronyms and other confusing lingo, people find it hard to understand what a TTY or TDD or text telephone is and what it actually does. Of course, nobody is going to buy something they don’t understand, so let us explain. All these different names mean the same thing: TTY stands for teletypewriter, TDD stands for Telecommunication Devices for the Deaf and Text telephone means a phone that is enabled to send text over phone lines. All these terms are referring to the same device. So how does a TTY / TDD / Text Telphone work? This device or phone, when hooked up to a phone or analog jack, allows for the typing of messages back and forth between text telephones. Anybody can call in to a TTY phone (presumably to a hard of hearing or deaf person) from a relay service, also known as Telecommunications Relay Service or TRS (people love making up acronyms). Under Title IV of the Americans with Disabilities Act, this service must be offered free of charge by every state (just press
