Several laws require that reasonable accommodation be provided for people with disabilities. For this reason, your company might offer support for callers who use teletypewriters (TTYs).

To accommodate TTY callers, you can create a hunt group that includes agents who are equipped with a TTY. Many TTYs can connect directly to the telephone network by means of analog RJ-11 jacks. However, Avaya recommends that agents be equipped with TTYs that include an acoustic coupler that can accommodate a standard telephone handset. One reason for this recommendation is that a large proportion of TTY users are hearing impaired, but speak clearly. These people often prefer to receive calls on the TTY, and then speak in response. The call center agent must alternate between listening on the telephone and typing on the TTY. This process is easier with an acoustically coupled configuration.

Although TTY-emulation software packages are available for personal computers, few of these software packages can mix voice and TTY on the same call.

For a TTY hunt group, you can record TTY announcements and use announcements for the hunt group queue. To record announcements for TTY, follow the same procedure that you use for voice recordings from your telephone. However, instead of speaking into your telephone to record, type the announcement with the TTY.

As an alternative to creating a TTY hunt group, you can use vectors to process TTY calls. With vectors, you can allow TTY callers and voice callers to use the same telephone number. In this case, you can also record a single announcement that contains both TTY signaling and a voice recording.