Emergency service for the hearing impaired

The emergency number 114 in France is accessible via video call, chat, images, and SMS, directing callers to agents who manage situations directly with the nearest emergency service, including Centre 15, police, gendarmerie, and firefighters.

Target audience for the service

The service is intended for individuals with hearing disabilities, including profoundly deaf individuals (80,000 to 100,000 people) who prefer sign language, those who are deaf in one ear, or elderly individuals who have become deaf and may not master sign language. According to one report, six to seven million people are considered to have hearing disabilities in France.

How the service operates

At each call, agents respond within less than a minute and exchange information in sign language. Callers who cannot reach emergency services via traditional telephone due to an inability to express themselves verbally are directed through this service. Responders, who work in pairs, assess the urgency of the situation and transmit the main information to the appropriate emergency service in the department from which the call originated: Samu (15), police (17), or firefighters (18), depending on the case. The emergency services then decide the follow-up actions.

Communication methods and personnel

To facilitate communication, calls can be made through different means: video, text, voice, images, via a dedicated application or on the website "Urgence 114", or by SMS to 114. The National Relay Center 114 (CNR 114), located at the Grenoble Alpes University Hospital Center (CHU), relies on about twenty agents, some deaf and others hearing, all trained in emergency procedures, sign language, and related exercises. Dr. Véronique Equy, who has been leading the service since 2022, notes that agents are also able to manage the stress of callers in emergency situations.

Advantages and usage statistics

The presence of video is a significant advantage. In the case of an injury, for example, agents can describe it precisely to the emergency services. The 114 responders handle on average 130 calls per day, of which about half relate to medical questions, a quarter is directed to the police-gendarmerie, and the remaining quarter to the firefighters. The service encourages deaf individuals to download and complete the application in advance for greater effectiveness during emergencies. Healthcare professionals, particularly private nurses, are encouraged to provide information about the application, help their patients download it if necessary, and pre-fill the information that concerns them.

Origins and awareness

The creation of 114 stems from the law of February 11, 2005, for equality of rights and opportunities, which required the accessibility of public services to all citizens, including access to emergency services. Despite its high responsiveness, the 114, created in 2011, is still too little known among its target audience, according to Dr. Equy. "Less than one out of ten" of those concerned are aware of its existence. It currently addresses deaf, hard of hearing, deaf-blind, and aphasic individuals, but also hearing individuals who find themselves in a situation where silence is vital, such as during an ongoing case of domestic violence.