Answer: For this answer, I talked to a media person at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). He says that TTY (most often referred to now as TDD) is a special device that allows people who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech-impaired to actually type in text messages in order to communicate by telephone and to receive a typed reply in response to their queries. This type of service used to be called Text Telephone, Teletypewriter or Teletype Terminal from which the initials TTY derived.

Here’s a sample TTY listing: TTY: 1-888-835-5422

Linda Niemi