Voice Carry-Over (VCO) is the perfect solution for you if you like to talk and read your phone calls.  When the other party speaks to you, the Relay Operator serves as your “ears” and types everything said to your TTY or VCO phone. Then you speak directly back to the other party.

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

VCO with Privacy
This feature is similar to standard VCO. However, with VCO with Privacy, the Relay Operator will not hear the VCO user’s voice and only types the other person’s responses back to the Deaf/Hard of Hearing user. Request privacy by typing/voicing to the operator “Privacy ON.”

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

The Relay Hawaii 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 877-447-5992 for English or 877-447-7261 for Spanish) on your VCO phone or text telephone/teletypewriter (TTY).  The Relay Operator will answer with “Aloha Relay Hawaii OPR 8234” (for Relay Operator identification), “F” or “M” (for Relay Operator gender). 

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

  • 1

    The VCO user talks directly to the other party.

  • 2

    After the VCO user says, “Go Ahead” (“GA”), it is the other party’s turn to respond.

  • 3

    The Relay Operator types the other party’s spoken words to the VCO user.

  • 4

    The VCO user reads the other party’s spoken words on the VCO phone or text telephone/teletypewriter (TTY).

To conclude the call, just say “goodbye” GA to SK (“Stop Keying) to indicate that the VCO user is ready to hang up.

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.

Other VCO Features

Relay Operators specialize in the different types of VCO calls listed here. Please specify to the Relay Operator which VCO call type you would like to make.

VCO to TTY

The Relay Operator types what you, the VCO user, says to the TTY user.  The TTY user types directly to your VCO phone.

VCO to VCO

The Relay Operator 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”).

VCO Support Service

24/7 support for people who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing using VCO