Voice Calls in Russia Made Accessible for People With Hearing Loss
The new technology converts phone conversations into text and back into speech, allowing people with hearing loss to communicate over mobile networks.
Russian telecom operator MTS has launched the service named Secretary for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. It allows users with hearing impairments to handle phone calls without assistance from third parties. The platform converts the caller’s speech into text in real time, while the user’s responses are voiced by a synthesized speech engine.
The service is built on MTS VoiceTech technologies. It is already available free of charge in all regions where the operator provides services. Activation takes only a few seconds. Users simply enable the feature in the Moy MTS (My MTS) application and turn on the “Call to Chat” function in the settings.
Speech Recognition
When a call comes in, the voice assistant informs the caller that the subscriber has a hearing impairment. The user can then decline the call and switch to a chat dialogue through the mobile application.
Artificial intelligence then takes over the interaction. The system instantly converts the caller’s speech into text displayed on the smartphone screen. The user’s replies typed in the chat are spoken aloud using speech synthesis. To speed up communication, users can select prewritten message templates, although the service also supports any free-form text.
According to the All-Russian Society of the Deaf, more than 13 million people in Russia were living with hearing impairments in 2025. For many of them, phone conversations have long remained difficult to access.
The new service operates within the operator’s mobile network. Users do not need to install additional calling apps or connect third-party platforms. Communication takes place through the standard telephone infrastructure.
