Cell Phone for the Hearing Impaired

Sprint launched a ground breaking innovative new service – a cell phone for the hearing impaired. This service, WebCapTel, is a web based service that allows people with hearing impediments to read conversations on cell phones capable of using Windows Mobile 6 web browsers, like the Palm Treo.

Sprint is dedicated to providing the best access and service to all customers and to being able to provide this level of service to everyone. Not just hearing customers.

Customers with hearing impairments can use WebCapTel to make phone calls. They use one phone to read the conversation and one phone to talk their responses.

In order to use the service, the client would log into the Sprint Captel portal and read what the other person is saying; they would then use their second phone to reply.
The WebCapTel service is similar to closed captioning television.

The spoken conversation is transformed into a readable conversation. This conversation is sent to the client’s cell phone screen via a web portal. The customer then is able to speak a reply into a second mobile phone.

Making a Good Thing Better

This service is an improvement of an already existing Sprint service, the WebCapTel service that requires the use of a computer. This new application is available using a mobile phone with Widows Mobile 6 and either Internet Explorer 7.0, Safari 2.0, or Firefox 3.0, these phones are the Diamond by HTC, Mogul by HTC, the Palm Treo 800w and the MOTO Q9c by Motorola.

This new service is expected help an estimated 30 million people in the United States who suffer from hearing loss. Far too many people take their hearing for granted. Sprint’s introduction of this new service shows that their company is thinking of everyone and implementing innovative ideas to allow communication access to everyone, regardless of their hearing capabilities.

The WebCapTel service is a free service available to Sprint customers in the US and in US territories. WebCapTel, just one more reason to rely on Sprint for all your communication needs now and in the future.