## Mechelle **Organization** University of Maryland **Hearing Profile** Deaf **Location** College Park, Maryland "Whenever the interpreters show up late, I have a backup plan with Ava to ensure that I do not miss anything." ## About Mechelle Mechelle is in a PHD chemistry program at the University of Maryland. ## How has Ava helped your life? Ava has given me the reassurance that I will always understand what someone is saying. I use it as a back-up if I do not have an ASL interpreter available, so in times that use to be very stressful, I now am calm and know that I can still understand what someone is saying while we wait for the ASL interpreter to show up. ## When do you use Ava? I use Ava the most when I'm traveling or if my interpreter doesn't show up — basically anytime I'm in a situation where I don't have an interpreter and the other individuals do not know ASL. A lot of the large lectures that I attend for my PHD program don't have interpreters, so I am able to use Ava to clearly understand what is going on. When I'm traveling, Ava is extremely helpful — especially in the airport or during a flight. I'm always able to understand the announcements that are happening when I have Ava. ## What's your favorite Ava feature? My favorite feature in Ava is the iOS widget that can sit on my lock screen. I'm able to quickly click on the widget when I need fast captions. I also really love the different voice options that are available for when I want [Ava to voice my text](/content/voice/index.html). It's nice that there are descriptions of what each voice sounds like for me to choose which one I like.