Voice Carry-Over (VCO) is the perfect solution for you if you like to talk and read captions during your phone calls.  When the other party speaks to you, the communications assistant serves as your “ears” and types all the words that are spoken and background sounds, if any, on your VCO phone or text telephone/teletypewriter (TTY).  Then you speak directly back to the other party. 

This service is designed for the people who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.

This relay service is available in English-to-English and Spanish-to-Spanish.

The TRS Customer Profile allows you to store your relay call preferences and helps speed up call processing.

How Does Voice Carry-Over (VCO) Work?

It’s a snap!

Just dial 711 (or 877-644-6826 for English or 888-269-0678 for Spanish) on your VCO phone or text telephone/teletypewriter (TTY).  The communications assistant will answer with “Ohio Relay”.

Provide the area code and telephone number you wish to call and say “Go Ahead”.  The communications assistant will dial the number and connect you to the other party.

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    You speak to the other party. Say “Go Ahead” (“GA”) at end of each message.  The “GA” indicates that it is the other party’s turn to respond.

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    The other party listens and speaks. The other party says “Go Ahead” (“GA”) to indicate that it is your turn to respond.

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    The communications assistant types the other party’s spoken message to you.

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    You read the other party’s spoken words on your VCO phone or text telephone/teletypewriter (TTY).

To conclude the call, just say “goodbye”.

Video: How does a Voice Carry-Over (VCO) call work?

Here’s how a VCO user communicates with her son, a standard phone user named Jim.

[Video Descriptions] (inserts button here)

Other VCO Features

Please specify to the communications assistant the VCO call type you would like to make.

VCO to TTY

The communications assistant types what you, the VCO user, says to the TTY user.  The TTY user types directly to your VCO phone.

VCO to VCO

The communications assistant serves as “ears” for both VCO users by typing what is said to both VCO phones and/or TTYs.

Two-Line VCO

Two-line VCO allows you, the VCO user, to use one telephone line for speaking directly to another party, and another telephone line to receive the other party’s typed responses. This feature provides a more natural flow of conversation and eliminates the need to say “Go Ahead” (“GA”).