Southwestern Bell tentatively has been awarded a five-year contract to continue operating a specialized call center in Lawrence that helps the hearing impaired use the telephone.

The center, called the Kansas Relay Center, employs more than 100 people at its location above the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce office, 734 Vt.

Brett Sayre, Southwestern Bell’s director of external affairs for the Lawrence area, confirmed the nonprofit Kansas Relay Services Inc. recently chose Southwestern Bell over several other companies looking to provide the service.

The deal, however, will not be finalized until the Kansas Corporation Commission approves the contract, which is not expected to happen for at least another month.

Sayre and Southwestern Bell spokesman Sarah Heffernan, would not comment further on the contract, citing a company policy not to comment on such matters until they have been approved by the KCC. Neither would confirm the exact number of people employed at the center but acknowledged that it employs more than 100 people. Attempts to reach officials with Kansas Relay Services Inc. were unsuccessful.

Sayre did say he was pleased that it appears the center will remain in Lawrence.

“We hope that it will be a bit of a shot in the arm for the local economy, given that some other companies in the area have had to cut back,” Sayre said.

The center, which is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, uses a combination of telephone-typewriter technology to help people with hearing and speech disabilities communicate by phone.

Hearing-impaired users have a special device that allows them to type their messages into their phone. Center workers then voice the message to the other individual and then type messages for the hearing-impaired user to see on a special display device.