Texas Register

TITLE 1 ADMINISTRATION
PART 10DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION RESOURCES
CHAPTER 213ELECTRONIC AND INFORMATION RESOURCES
SUBCHAPTER BELECTRONIC AND INFORMATION RESOURCES FOR STATE AGENCIES
RULE §213.11Telecommunications Products
ISSUE 04/21/2006
ACTION Final/Adopted
Preamble Texas Admin Code Rule

(a)Telecommunications products or systems which provide a function allowing voice communication and which do not themselves provide a TTY functionality shall provide a standard non-acoustic connection point for TTYs. Microphones shall be capable of being turned on and off to allow the user to intermix speech with TTY use.

(b)Telecommunications products which include voice communication functionality shall support all commonly used cross-manufacturer non-proprietary standard TTY signal protocols.

(c)Voice mail, auto-attendant, and interactive voice response telecommunications systems shall be usable by TTY users with their TTYs.

(d)Voice mail, messaging, auto-attendant, and interactive voice response telecommunications systems that require a response from a user within a time interval, shall give an alert when the time interval is about to run out, and shall provide sufficient time for the user to indicate more time is required.

(e)Where provided, caller identification and similar telecommunications functions shall also be available for users of TTYs, and for users who cannot see displays.

(f)For transmitted voice signals, telecommunications products shall provide a gain adjustable up to a minimum of 20 dB. For incremental volume control, at least one intermediate step of 12 dB of gain shall be provided.

(g)If the telecommunications product allows a user to adjust the receive volume, a function shall be provided to automatically reset the volume to the default level after every use.

(h)Where a telecommunications product delivers output by an audio transducer which is normally held up to the ear, a means for effective magnetic wireless coupling to hearing technologies shall be provided.

(i)Interference to hearing technologies (including hearing aids, cochlear implants, and assistive listening devices) shall be reduced to the lowest possible level that allows a user of hearing technologies to utilize the telecommunications product.

(j)Products that transmit or conduct information or communication, shall pass through cross-manufacturer, non-proprietary, industry-standard codes, translation protocols, formats or other information necessary to provide the information or communication in a usable format. Technologies which use encoding, signal compression, format transformation, or similar techniques shall not remove information needed for access or shall restore it upon delivery.

(k)Products which have mechanically operated controls or keys, shall comply with the following:

  (1)Controls and keys shall be tactilely discernible without activating the controls or keys.

  (2)Controls and keys shall be operable with one hand and shall not require tight grasping, pinching, or twisting of the wrist. The force required to activate controls and keys shall be 5 lbs. (22.2 N) maximum.

  (3)If key repeat is supported, the delay before repeat shall be adjustable to at least 2 seconds. Key repeat rate shall be adjustable to 2 seconds per character.

  (4)The status of all locking or toggle controls or keys shall be visually discernible, and discernible either through touch or sound.

This agency hereby certifies that the adoption has been reviewed by legal counsel and found to be a valid exercise of the agency's legal authority.

Filed with the Office of the Secretary of State on April 7, 2006

TRD-200602052

Renée Mauzy

General Counsel

Department of Information Resources

Effective date: April 27, 2006

Proposal publication date: November 18, 2005

For further information, please call: (512) 475-4700



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