Cancer

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I need some help (lemm.ee)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/cancer

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So thanks to my fun version of cancer, I had a total larynjectomy. My voice box was removed. Amongst all the other things I will never be able to do again, I can't speak on the phone.

I have been trying to find an app that lets me type words and it speaks them INTO THE PHONE to the person on the other end. However much I try, I can't seem to find the right words to make Google understand what I'm looking for. I don't need something that speaks typed words out loud to the person standing next to me. I don't need an app that reads texts to me. I need to communicate over the phone line to the person on the other side.

Can anyone here unlock the magic phrase that finds what I need? I am starting to suspect there's some law against it or something, which is why it's seemingly not a thing. I can't imagine mine is the only use case for such an app.

Right now my poor wife is the one who has to make all my doctor appointments, order all my drug refills, call the plumber, whatever. I'd love to be able to help with that again. Can you fine folks help me out?

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[–] droans 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Real Time Text/RTT?

For Android, it'll be in the Accessibility settings. I'm not sure for iPhone, but, at least in the US, the FCC requires all phones and carriers to support it. I'm not sure if they will be able to hear what you type, but they should at least be able to see it.

There seem to be some VOIP carriers that provide TTS capabilities, but I'd worry that your calls would be blocked by spam filters.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This looks like it's probably what I am looking for. Unfortunately, my phone is a little older at this point (Oneplus 7T) and doesn't seem to have RTT, just TTY... which doesn't seem to do anything. I think it actually wants an external TTY device? Anyways, I'm gonna see about how to get RTT on my phone, maybe root it and change the ROM.

Thanks a lot, I really appreciate the help!

[–] droans 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You sure it doesn't? You could try checking the Accessibility settings inside the phone app itself.

I know OnePlus likes to make things a bit weird.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I ended up installing the Google Phone/Dialer app and that enabled the RTT for me. Unfortunately, RTT still doesn't actually read the text aloud to the people on the other end. I think I'm just going to have to use an old phone to basically use the screen reader and hold it up to the other phone.

[–] drdoggophd 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Hi there. I saw this post come up on my "all" feed. I am not sure how much help this would be or if you've looked into it yet or not, but maybe try looking into TTY? I admittedly have no experience with it and I'm just aware it's a thing that exists, but perhaps it could be a possible solution. From one of the search results I got when googling "TTY phone": "TTY stands for "teletypewriter," a device initially created to allow individuals with hearing or speech impairments to communicate by sending typed text over standard telephone lines. In modern smartphones, TTY mode replicates this functionality, enabling text-based communication during a voice call."

I hope this helps, or at least points you in a good direction. I hope you are doing well, all things considered.

[–] ickplant 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This. I was an independent living aid to a young man with selective mutism, and this is what he used.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Thanks. Did they need an external TTY device for this to work? I tried placing a TTY call and it just went through like a normal call without a keyboard or anything. Maybe I'm doing something wrong...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Thanks, this definitely got me pointed in a good direction. It seems that TTY is being phased out for RTT as suggested by the person above. I have a lot more research to do but this definitely helped a ton. Thank you!