Text vs. Voice for Critical Alert Messaging
What are the advantages and disadvantages for using text as opposed to voice for critical alert messages? When the communication of a message is critical, which medium – voice or text offers a superior methodology? Both communicate, but one offers several advantages. A critical message should not have to be committed to memory. Who has a photographic memory or perfect recall of what has been communicated to us verbally. Not many people. A text message can be stored on the communication device and recalled for future reference. Voice messaging offers no such capabilities. In addition, response paging devices are much less costly, ranging in price up to $150. Voice pagers and WiFi devices cost between $300 to $500 and do not provide assurance that your critical message has been received and is being responded to. A response paging device, using text as its communication medium, allows you to confirm that your message has been received and even who and how the recipient is responding to your critical message. When the content of a message is critical, text is by far the superior communication medium for relaying that message.