Using TalkForMe with Telephone

[Jim Bretti]

If you currently use TalkForMe to talk on the telephone, can you describe the hardware setup? How do you switch back and forth between telephone use and normal face-to-face conversation?

[conant]

I use a speakerphone, with my laptop sitting right near to it so that the phone picks up the laptop's speakers well. This works quite well.
I can be listening to the other person, and typing away at the same time, so that when my turn comes I can "talk."

I have tried having a conversation with a "normal" (non-speaker-) phone,
but it is very difficult. You have to listen to the other person, then set the phone down next to the laptop and type and "speak", then pick up the phone again - very awkward and difficult to pull off, and especially if the person goes on speaking after you have set the phone down, and you miss what they said. Embarrassing.

Regardless of which type of phone is used, or in fact regardless of anything at all, there is a problem with using TFM in a conversation, particularly when there are several people involved, and not just two. That is the problem of interruptions. It is all too easy to push the "Talk" button and have a little pause while the computer gets its computation done in anticipation of speaking; then the machine starts to speak, but in the meanwhile the other person has started to speak too, so the machine interrupts rudely. Even the Stop button takes a little while before it starts to operate, so this is quite a problem. The only way I have found to solve it is to raise my hand, like a grade school student, when I have something to "say" - then people have learned to be quiet and wait for the machine. But it means you have to train everybody you have a TFM conversation with.

[Karen Lynch]

I find the speaker phone works okay except when the other person wants to interrupt or add to converstation. I cannot type too much ahead because then they have to wait. They aren't sure when I am done speaking and talk over the text that is being read. Most people will speak a sentence or two and then wait for the caller to take a turn. I tried to be too efficient by typing too much of what I wanted to say BEFORE I made the call, which does not work at all, if the topic gets changed or a question is asked. Sometimes I have already erased it and they ask me to repeat. I have tried shortcuts like with text messages, but found when I used a number like 4 (four, for, fore, etc.) my predefined phrases would come in unexpectently. It took me a while to figure out why. Other things work like "U" for you or "C" for see, etc.

[Harry Murphy]

In the initial design time I had made a number of suggestions to Jim, some of which were incorporated and a number for various reasons were either postponed or rejected. One was to have a piece of non offensive music either incorporated into the program or selected from a CD inserted in the hardware. The TalkForMe program could then automatically switch to the music when the user is typing to cue the listener that a response is imminent. The music would cease immediately on the command to speak the text. Nature abhors a vacuum and a listener abhors silence and begins to speak to fill the silent gap, often changing the subject. Some sort of cueing could perhaps alleviate this pressure on the listener to speak.
Its a psychological approach similar to that used by companies that put you on "Hold" on the phone.

[garyt12]

At work I use Talk for Me with a switch available from Zygousa.com. (SPIRA2) I hook the switch between the handset and its cord, then run the jack connector to the output speaker hole on my laptop. I also use a common Y and go from the computer speaker jack to both amplified speakers and the telephone switch. This allows me to a. talk on the phone I can hear so I put the handset up to my ear in the normal manner, type my response into the talk for me and it comes out on both the telephone line and the speakers. I often use the speakers for people that come into the office. If it is a private conversation I pull the amplified speaker jack, so no one in the office can hear me on the phone. I am thinking about getting a switch for home use but at 65.00 + 10 shipping it is relatively expensive.

I have been using the services of ATT's calling assistants to make call via the internet both at home and occassionally at work. I recently did an Unemployment hearing by calling assistants, took 2 hours but when pretty well as I had pretty well typed the case out the day before.

I like the music idea as I have gone through some impatient people. I have to be really careful when I type or what comes out doesn't make sense:D