National Relay Service

NRS logo: an Australian Government initiative, National Relay Service.

If you are deaf and/or find it hard hearing or speaking with people who use a phone, the National Relay Service (NRS) can help you.

A call through the NRS lets you communicate with a hearing person who is using a phone even if you can't hear or don't use your voice.
The NRS has specially trained staff called Relay Officers who help with every call.
Depending on the type of call, a Relay Officer will change voice to text or text tovoice and AUSLAN to English or English to AUSLAN.
Relay officers stay on the line throughout each call to help it go smoothly, but don't change or get in the way of what is being said.
Except for calls made through Video Relay, the NRS is available 24 Hours a day, every day.
From 20 April 2021 users will have to register to use the NRS. Read more by visiting the National Relay Service user registration opens soon news story.
Depending on your hearing and speech, and equipment you have, you can choose from one or more relay call types.

What a typical relay call looks like

Call diagram representing a NRS Chat call. A NRS user with a computer types the message 'I'd like to enquire about the recently advertised job.' The relay officer speaks the message to the other person on the call, who speaks the reply 'Certainly, what would you like to know?' The relay officer types the response to the NRS user.

Which type of relay call is right for you?

	If you are deaf, can't hear well and/or have difficulty using your voice			If you don't hear well but like to speak to the other person		If you can hear but can be hard to understand over the phone			If you prefer to use Auslan
	NRS Chat	SMS Relay	TTY Type and Read	NRS Captions	TTY Speak and Read	Voice Relay	SMS Relay Text and Listen	TTY Type and Listen	Video Relay
Like to type?	✔	✔	✔				✔	✔
Like to speak?				✔	✔	✔
Use Auslan?									✔
Have some hearing and like to listen?				✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Like to read captions or text?	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Need bigger print?	✔			✔
Make a call on the move?	✔	✔		✔		✔	✔		✔

More information

For more information about different types of calls through the NRS, see the Service Features page or these Fact Sheets which you can download and print.

NRS—an introduction to relay calls

Published 31st Jan 2020

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If you have difficulty hearing or speaking to people who use a phone, the National Relay Service (NRS) can help.

NRS—A call through the National Relay Service

Published 11th Dec 2019

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If you work in a contact centre or as a receptionist, you may occasionally receive calls from your customers through the National Relay Service (NRS).