Let’s Talk About Caption Phones and the Benefits

ClearCaptions is a captioned telephone service provider that helps people whose hearing loss makes it difficult to use the phone. Hearing loss affects 430 million people worldwide, and by 2050 the World Health Organization estimates that one in every ten people will have hearing loss. Additionally, people with severe hearing loss are at an increased risk of social isolation because of reduced interaction and socialization. That’s where ClearCaptions comes in!

As one of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) certified telephone captioning providers, ClearCaptions serves the hard-of-hearing community by providing Internet Protocol Captioned Telephone Service or IP CTS to qualified U.S. residents. This helps people with hearing loss communicate more easily with the use of an internet-enabled phone that provides near real-time captions of what their callers say right on the telephone screen. It is even available on mobile devices using the ClearCaptions Mobile app.  

“This service dramatically changed my life for the better. I can make my own doctor appointments, call the pharmacy including my friends and family again. ClearCaptions technology is a big blessing in my life. Thank you!”

– ClearCaptions customer, Eliabdiel G.

How is call captioning free? 

You’ve heard of free phones for seniors, but can it really be true? If so, who pays for it? We’re glad you asked! ClearCaptions is made possible by a federally administered program, enacted by Title IV of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The TRS (Telecommunications Relay Service) Fund is managed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and makes our service available at no cost to qualified U.S. residents. 

The TRS Fund is supported by the Universal Service that all telecommunications service providers must contribute to. Phone service providers typically charge a small amount on every phone bill that helps maintain funding. This fund allows us to continue to support hard-of-hearing customers with captioned calls free of charge. There are no bills, no fees and no contracts!  

Learn more about the TRS Fund and how it benefits you and your loved ones.  

Privacy matters  

At ClearCaptions, we value privacy. We serve our customers with integrity and stewardship to ensure the best quality of service. We follow stringent rules set by the FCC that prohibit our Caption Agents from recording conversations. On top of that, most of our calls utilize ASR (Automatic Speech Recognition) and will only be transferred to live captioners when necessary. Rest assured, whether with our speech recognition software or live Caption Agents, every call we connect is safe, secure and private.

See how conversations are private with ClearCaptions:  

• ALL conversations are completely private 
• No records or any content from calls are recorded or stored by Caption Agents 
• Captions disappear immediately from a Caption Agent’s station once the call ends   
• Conversations will not be stored anywhere unless you choose to save captions of your conversation on your home caption phone or mobile device 
• Most captioned calls are handled by speech recognition software, eliminating the use of human captioning agents

Learn more about how ClearCaptions ensures privacy here.  

What are the benefits? 

Call captioning is more than just words on a screen. They’re a great benefit to anyone whose hearing loss makes it difficult to use the phone. A caption phone delivers text of phone conversations that help with word recognition for people with hearing loss. It also decreases listening fatigue! According to Healthy Hearing, “When hearing loss is present, the brain must work harder to make sense of the information it receives from the inner ear, which can be mentally exhausting.”  

“This phone enables me to hear conversations that I used to have a hard time understanding. It also rings loud enough so I don’t miss calls anymore. Glad to have it!”

– ClearCaptions customer, Robert L.”

ClearCaptions mission remains the same–to keep our customers connected and independent in their daily lives. We uphold all our values including communication, quality, accountability, integrity, and stewardship to ensure our quality of service. We’re connecting people to their friends, family and critical services because we believe in connection and independence for everyone.  

We can’t wait to welcome you to the ClearCaptions family! If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to give us a call now. Call 866-246-7850 or visit clearcaptions.com/sign-me-up to see how we can help you or someone you know with hearing loss.