Cassidy Simpkins
Amber Sweigart
American Sign Language II
May 04, 2015
Technology Research Paper: the Teletypewriter The teletypewriter is a technological advancement that was invented in 1964 by a deaf scientist, Mr. Robert Weitbrecht. The contraption allows people who are deaf to have a system similar to a telephone that can be used to communicate with other people. The teletypewriter, also known as the TTY, has helped the Deaf community and outsiders since it was first invented, and many different contributions are continuing to help the usefulness of the teletypewriter as it evolves. For years, people who were deaf or hard of hearing either struggled to use telephones or relied on others to make calls for them. The invention of the teletypewriter…show more content… As a child, Weitbrecht was teased for his “disability” and decided that he wanted to do something about it. Upon reaching adulthood, Weitbrecht became a physicist, and started working on a ham radio. His technological advancement from working on the ham radio lead to his idea of the teletypewriter. The very first TTY, invented in 1950, was a radio teletypewriter and could not be used with a telephone. When the deaf community first got word of the teletypewriter, they begged and pleaded with Weitbrecht to create a teletypewriter that was compatible with a regular telephone. Weitbrecht succeeded and invented an acoustic coupler that could access telephone calls and successfully created the finalized teletypewriter in…show more content… The TTY has been helping people who are deaf communicate with hearing people and other members of the Deaf community since the 1960s. If the TTY hadn’t of been invented, it’s likely to say that majority of the Deaf community now would have no way of talking to others without being in person. Aside from Skype and texting, it would be very difficult to communicate with other people over the phone. Thanks to Weitbrecht, deaf people have had the ability to communicate with people over the phone since 1964, before modern technology came into