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 "Until a few months ago, one quick phone call meant a slow, cumbersome process for Fred Pickering. As a deaf technology specialist at the Library of Congress, he couldn't just pick up the phone and ask a colleague a question. He had to visit in person, send an e-mail or begin the frustratingly slow process of typing out the conversation for a third party to read over the phone." "But in the fall, the Library installed videophones for its 17 deaf employees. Now, Pickering can use his first language when he makes a call: American Sign Language." Emily Yehle, Roll Call, February 27, 2008 Read More  "Deaf employees of the Library of Congress can do their jobs more effectively these days, thanks to a video telephone system provided by Utah's Sorenson Communications." "The Taylorsville-based company recently "licensed" - a technical term for donated free of charge - 16 Video Relay Service (VRS) videophones to the Washington, D.C., library, the first federal agency to use the system." "'It will help me communicate with anyone I need to talk to about anything,' said Fred Pickering, 60, who works in information technology, one of roughly 20 deaf library employees." Mike Gorrell, The Salt Lake Tribune, February 27, 2008 Read More  "Sorenson Communications, a video relay service for the deaf and hard of hearing, will open a new, 3,500-square-foot office in Rochester Hills in March." "This will be the third relay office in Michigan for the Salt Lake City, Utah-based company, and it will transfer some employees from the Ann Arbor office." "The other office is in Grand Rapids." "The privately held company provides free video service for the deaf and hard of hearing, translating from sign language to spoken word and vice versa." Gary Gosselin, Oakland Business Review, February 21, 2008 Read More (PDF)  "ANN ARBOR -- Recovering in her hospital bed after brain surgery at the University of Michigan Hospital, Maureen Lantagne enjoyed an unusual dose of independence: She called her mother by herself on a videophone." "It's the first time she was able to make and receive phone calls in her native sign language during a hospital visit." "The alternative for Lantagne -- and other members of the deaf community -- is to rely on nurses to place calls to family and friends, or use a TTY, Text Telephone, to type and read messages in English. But neither method is preferred, especially since English isn't always a deaf person's first language." Christina Stolarz, The Detroit News, January 25, 2008 Read More  "For Stephen Hlibok, vice president and senior financial advisor at Merrill Lynch, the simple tasks of making morning telephone calls to clients was once a source of frustration. Hlibok, who is deaf, had to rely on inefficient texting and TTY relay services." "The 1960s-based equipment and services, long the standard for communication in the deaf community, created significant delays, made back-and-forth discussion nearly impossible, and took all of the personal nuances of American Sign Language (ASL) out of the equation. Simple calls that should have taken just a few minutes could stretch as long as an hour." "Hlibok's story is one that resonates throughout the deaf community. Historically, telephone communication has been difficult, at best, for the deaf and hard-of-hearing who primarily use ASL. But thanks to recent advancements in technology and new dedicated services, communicating in sign language is now a breeze. And no company has played a bigger role in that monumental change than Salt Lake City-based Sorenson Communications." American Executive, January 2008 Read More (PDF)  "The Jacksonville Public Library System has installed videophones for deaf people at all the library branches, which one manufacturer said appears to be the first time an entire library system has deployed the technology." David Bauerlein, The Times-Union, January 17, 2008 Read More  "Carbon and Emery Counties will soon see 100 new jobs, thanks to Sorenson Communications. Today the company announced the building a new SIPRelay Communication Center in Price. Sorenson is known for providing a free service to the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, allowing them to use a computer or mobile device to contact hearing individuals." Scott Haws, KSL 5, December 5, 2007 Channel 5 (Low Bandwidth WMV File) Channel 5 (High Bandwidth WMV File)  "Sorenson Communications has been providing help for the deaf and hard-of-hearing for several years. Now it's going to be bringing help - in the form of jobs - to an area of Utah that could use it." "The Salt Lake City-based company said Wednesday that it will open a new communications relay center in Price in a few weeks, bringing 50 jobs to a temporary site in an operation that will have 100 employees, both full and part time, by summer in a permanent location there." "The relay service, called Sorenson IP Relay, is designed to facilitate communication between people who can hear and those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, by using PCs or mobile devices." Brice Wallace, Deseret Morning News, December 6, 2007 Read More More stories on SIPRelay Call Center Announcement in Price, Utah The Salt Lake Tribune Wasatch Digital IQ The Eagle  "A system called Video Relay Services allows deaf students to communicate with hearing individuals by phone." "Students send a message into a camera, and a trilingual operator interprets the spoken or signed message and relays it to the person on the other side of the phone line." "In 2003, Sorenson Communications created this technology and introduced it to the deaf community." "On Aug. 8, the company announced an agreement with this college to supply the American Sign Language and interpreter training department with free, unlimited access to the Video Relay Services." Jon Coker, The Ranger, October 18, 2007 Read More  "COMBAT OUTPOST CLEARY, Iraq - Pfc. Patti Angel faces communication barriers no amount of waiting in line or talking into a phone from Iraq can help. Her parents are deaf." "Keeping in touch back home is already tough for deployed Soldiers with friends and family members who can hear. Not being able to use conventional means of communication at her disposal makes reaching out to her parents that much harder on Angel." "The 19-year-old food service specialist from Grand Junction, Colo., Company F, 203rd Brigade Support Battalion, Angel has found a way to communicate with her hearing-impaired parents and explained how others can do the same. She uses the Sorenson Video Relay Service to "speak" visually to her mother and father." Sgt. Natalie Rostek, 3rd HBCT Public Affairs, Blackanthem Military News, September 8, 2007 Read More Sorenson VP-200 on KSAT TV "Using high-quality video technology, people who are deaf can now communicate with family, friends, and businesses on a whole new level. The equipment is called the Sorenson videophone-200 and as the Nancy Gonzalez shows us, it's free for the deaf and hard-of-hearing." Nancy Gonzalez, KSAT TV, August 3, 2007 View  "Another barrier to the isolation of those who are deaf-blind has been overcome through the generosity of Sorenson Communications." "Sorenson Video Relay Service (VRS) is a free service for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community that enables anyone to conduct video relay calls. Using a television screen and a special videophone, deaf callers can use their native language - American Sign Language (ASL) - to contact a Sorenson interpreter, who will then voice their signed message to a hearing recipient. The hearing person's spoken response is then translated into ASL by the interpreter, who signs it to the deaf caller via videophone. Hearing callers may also initiate a call to a deaf person using Sorenson VRS." Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youths and Adults Newsletter, July 11, 2007 Read More  "Helen Keller once said that blindness cut her off from things, but deafness cut her off from people. She pointed out that the biggest challenge for people who have hearing loos is communicating with other people. Fortunately for our kids, technology is helping bridge this communication gap. One of the coolest technological advancements for our kids is the development of videophones and video relay service (VRS)." Candace Lindow-Davies, Minnesota Hands & Voices FOCUS, June 2007 Read More Boise State University, Arbiter "Many people are not aware of the presence of the deaf community. Every Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. there is a silent lunch hosted by the Hand Talk Club, a Student Organization of Boise State University, which is not exclusive to any particular group of people." "The group meets to raise awareness of the deaf community in the Treasure Valley." Steve Ahlborn, The Arbiter, May 7, 2007 Read More  "WASHINGTON - Phoning a friend or relative isn't an easy task if you're deaf." "In the past, someone who couldn't hear wanted to make a phone call, that person had to type out a message on a keyboard and the recipient had to have a similar device on the other end or the pair would have to rely on an interpreter." "Now, a Utah company is promoting a new technology - free to hearing-impaired individuals - that allows the user to communicate using sign language via a phone call with an interpreter who then can relay the words to the recipient. Salt Lake City-based Sorenson Communications touted their new service in Washington on Wednesday in the famous Caucus Room on Capitol Hill." Thomas Burr, Washington correspondent, The Salt Lake Tribune, March 1, 2007 Read More  "OK, so there's this Deaf couple staying at a motel, and in the middle of the night the woman asks her husband to go buy her some aspirin. So he gets out of bed and drives to an all-night drugstore, and when he gets back the motel is dark and he can't remember which room is his. At first he doesn't know what to do, but then he drives to the middle of the parking lot and begins honking the horn. Pretty soon lights start going on in room after room, and people are peering out their windows to see who's making all that noise. The man waits until every room is lit up — and then drives to the one room that's still dark." "That's the famous motel joke, signs Minnie Mae Wilding-Diaz. She is sitting in her living room in Riverton with her husband, Julio Diaz, who is also deaf. In the kitchen, her three deaf children are playing with Legos." "In Wilding-Diaz's motel joke, the tables have been turned. The Deaf man has used sound — and the hearing world's predictable attentiveness to it — to his advantage. In the joke, the hearing world has to accommodate." Elaine Jarvik, The Deseret Morning News, February 4, 2007 Read More "John Peebler remembers conversations with his parents back in the days when the deaf could only communicate long distance via teletype machines. At his parents' house, a machine the size of a refrigerator and loud enough to shake the room would spit out a large scroll of paper with a typed message. On the other end of the line, Peebler, who hears, would wait for an operator to read a message typed in by his deaf parents." "In all honestly, I hated having conversations," says Peebler, who is now an American Sign Language interpreter. "It was stilted." And businesses would often hang up on TTY users, requiring deaf families to rely on neighbors to make appointments or order a pizza." "Today is a golden age for communication technologies for the deaf. There are videophones that both provide face-to-face (and hand-to-hand) conversation between two people who sign, and Video Relay Services for conversations between the deaf and the hearing. With VRS, the deaf and hearing use an interpreter who can watch the deaf person sign on the videophone screen and then can speak that message to the hearing person, and vice versa." Elaine Jarvik, The Deseret Morning News, Sunday, February 4, 2007 Read More "Sports will shine a spotlight on deaf culture when the 16th Winter Deaflympics begin Friday in Salt Lake City." "About 365 deaf and hearing impaired athletes from 24 countries will compete through Feb. 10 in five sports at venues in Park City, Midway and Salt Lake City. Two Utahns are among them: snowboarders Jeff Pollock and Carina Crosby. Three-thousand spectators are expected." Mike Gorrell, The Salt Lake Tribune, January 31, 2007 Read More "To be a Deaf snowboarder in a race with hearing competitors, says Jeff Pollock, 'is, in a single word, lonely.'" "That's one reason why the 16th Winter Deaflympics, which open Thursday in Salt Lake City, are so appealing to Pollock and other Deaf athletes. For the next 10 days, they'll have a chance not only to shine on snow and ice but to converse with other athletes from around the world." "They also hope the hearing public will drop by to see them compete and celebrate. This year's event has more Deaf athletes (365) from more countries (25) than any previous Deaflympics — which until fairly recently were known as Deaf World Games, and before that, World Games for the Deaf." Elaine Jarvik, The Deseret Morning News, January 31, 2007 Read More Sorenson VRS on Tampa Bay's 10 News "St. Petersburg, Florida - Lois Maroney places what appears to be a routine call to her husband. But, there is nothing routine about it." "Lois is deaf." "For years, she used a teletype system, or TTY, to make calls through an interpreter. But she found it incredibly frustrating." Jennifer Howe, Tampa Bay's 10, January 30, 2007 Read More  "At Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, attorney Sharon Caserta can meet in her office with deaf clients and communicate in free-flowing sign language." "Or she can call them by using videophones and converse by sign language at the same rapid speed. The videophones are hooked up to television screens and high-speed Internet connections, enabling Caserta and her client to see each other in clear detail as they sign back and forth." "Videophones might seem like devices straight out of the Jetsons or National Security Council sessions, but for the deaf and hard of hearing, the technology has arrived." "In the past three years, Sorenson Communications of Utah has helped spur the nationwide growth by offering free videophones to the deaf." David Bauerline, The Florida Times-Union, December 13, 2006 Read More  Salt Lake City, UT"There's something news at the Salt Lake Airport designed to make traveling easier." "This is a historic first for the country." "And that 'historic first' is a phone-a phone that you will only find in our airport. But you'll soon start seeing it in other airports shortly." Bruce Lindsay, Nadine Wimmer, Amanda Butterfield, KSL 5, November 1, 2006 Channel 5 (Low Bandwidth WMV File) Channel 5 (High Bandwidth WMV File)  Salt Lake City, UT"Salt Lake International is getting new videophone booths, thanks to Sorenson Communications. They're the first of their kind in the United States." Bob Evans, KSTU FOX 13, November 1, 2006 Channel 13 (Low Bandwidth WMV File) Channel 13 (High Bandwidth WMV File)  Salt Lake City, UT"Salt Lake City International Airport is making it easier for the hearing impaired to make their travel plans . . . the Video Relay Service allows anyone who uses sign language to use their own language during calls to hearing individuals." Terry Wood, ABC 4, November 1, 2006 "Finally, after a lifetime of deafness and using text telephones to send messages, Arthur Valdez had a telephone conversation Wednesday replete with the rich nuances of expression that most people take for granted." "Valdez was using his fingers to speak to a woman via a videophone booth that allows phone calls to be made to hearing people through sign language interpreters." "The encounter, which took place at Salt Lake City International Airport on Wednesday, was an unscripted exhibition of a powerful tool developed by Sorensen Communications, the Salt Lake City-based provider of communications services to the deaf and hard of hearing." "Sorenson's videophones and voice relay service have been available in homes and schools for the deaf since 2003. The demonstration on Wednesday marked the first appearance of videophone booths for the deaf at a U.S. airport, according to Sorenson chief executive Patrick Nola." Paul Beebe, The Salt Lake Tribune, November 2, 2006 Read More "When hundreds of deaf and hard-of-hearing athletes land at the Salt Lake City International Airport early next year for the Winter Deaflympics, they'll find they can do something never before done at an airport - place a videophone call to let loved ones know they've landed safely." "Lots of deaf from around the world will see this and they'll be so thrilled," said Ron Burdett, vice president of community relations for Sorenson Communications, which on Wednesday unveiled two new airport videophones, one in each terminal near the baggage claim areas." "This is a historic first for the country," said Patrick Nola, president and CEO of Sorenson Communications. "The deaf can communicate to the hearing in their natural language." "We hope this sets an example for airports across the country," Nola said. Angie Welling, The Deseret Morning News, November 4, 2006 Read More Salt Lake City, UT"In Utah, like the rest of the country, there's a shortage of people who know sign language. And that shortage affects every service that is required to provide interpreters. Salt Lake Community College says it can help. Samantha Hayes reports on a new program that is using state-of-the art technology to fill the need." "It usually takes many years to be able to communicate like this woman and her skill is in high demand." "The need for interpreters is tremendous." Carole Mikita, Bruce Lindsay, Samantha Hayes, September 28, 2006 Channel 5 (Low Bandwidth WMV File) Channel 5 (High Bandwidth WMV File) Sorenson VRS on ABC's "The View" In a recent segment on ABC's talk show, "The View," Sorenson video relay service (VRS) and the Sorenson VP-200 videophone were highlighted with Barbara Walters. The segment provided a way for those who are not familiar with the deaf community to learn more about this exciting, new communication service developed and created specifically for the deaf community.  "Thousands of Americans who are deaf are finding video relay to be an easier and cheaper alternative to making calls via text telephones, or TTYs. Like many deaf people sold on video conversations, Frei doesn't have use for a telephone anymore. " "'It's easier,' said Frei, of Henrietta. 'We can sign. We can communicate with our native language. And I like to see the facial expressions.'" Greg Livadas, Democrat and Chronicle, June 6, 2006 Read More  "Sign language is entering cyberspace, as a plethora of new technologies are expanding the abilities of deaf people to communicate - and not just by whipping out a handheld computer to type messages or flipping on the Internet to receive e-mails." "Instead, broadband and video technologies are enabling the deaf for the first time to "convey the information in their own language instead of relying on the written word," said Janet Harkins, director of technology access at Gallaudet University in Washington, the country's premier school for the deaf." Pat Bernstein, Baltimore Sun, June 4, 2006 Read More  "In comments filed with the FCC this week in Consumer & Government Affairs Docket 03-123, several companies and groups said that the proposed 8% rate cut recommended by NECA at a time when the Commission is requiring service upgrades for VRS so companies can comply with new speed-of-answer rules and the allowing of consumers to call the interpreters of any provider could have a "chilling effect" on the industry that would be felt by those in the deaf community." Ted Gotsch's TR Daily, May 18, 2006 Read More All media coverage posted is used with permission. |
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