Ava Welcome is a simple setup of Ava tailor-made for worship centers. This is done by connecting Ava on a smart device directly to the existing sound system at your worship center. The end result is that deaf and hard-of-hearing people can come to worship at any time, open the Ava app, and receive the captions of the speaker’s words with very high accuracy.
1. SETTING UP AVA
You'll need:
a reliable Internet connection (wifi recommended)
a smart device (tablet or smartphone) with Ava installed on it, which will be dedicated to the live captioning during services (referred to as the “host device”)
an Ava Welcome account
a TRS-TRS audio cable (1/4'' stereo TRS male to 1/4'' stereo TRS male), or the XLR version (large venues only)
an iRig
Start by setting up Ava on your host device (smartphone, tablet):
Worship center staff should complete this form form to connect with an accessibility expert who will guide you step-by-step to easily start live-captioning your worship center with Ava Welcome.
Refer to the login credentials that were created upon subscribing to Ava Welcome.
Tap on Caption with Ava account, and use the login credentials to login and change your password.
Choose the Name that will be displayed, and the Ava Name that the attendees will have to enter to join the broadcasted captioning. e.g. worshipcentername
Finish the on-boarding.
Tap the microphone icon to activate and deactivate the captions. Blue: Captioning ONGrey: Captioning OFF
Next, connect your host device to the sound system:
Plug one end of the TRS cable into a direct out on the sound board. If you don't have one, look for the XLR, and plug the XLR cable.
Plug the other extremity of the cable into the iRig where there is a guitar symbol.
Switch the iRig to "thru", turn the "gain" all the way up.
Plug the iRig end to the smart device headphone jack.
Turn on the sound board power and make sure the microphone signal is feeding to the direct out.
Turn on the microphone the speaker will use.
Test the host device by opening the app, tap to start captioning, and begin speaking into the microphone the speaker will use. Check to make sure that what you say is being captioned by the app.
Turn on key Ava Welcome features:
Curse Words Filter>> Tap the Settings icon in the top left corner>> Tap the Settings menu>> Under Audio heading, tap Curse Words Filter>> Tap the "No Curse Word" setting
Save Transcripts>> Tap the Settings icon in the top left corner>> Tap the Settings menu>> Under Conversation heading, turn on the Save Transcripts toggle
Public Mode>> Tap the Contacts icon on the navigation bar at the bottom >> Tap the Conversation Status icon in the upper right corner>> Tap the "Anyone Can Join" setting>> Tap "Mute Participants"
Utilize the Tap Edit/Delete feature to help improve accuracy at a faster rate. This can be done on the personal device of any hearing person who is connected to the host device.
Tip: Set the host device to never Auto Lock in the device settings so that it doesn't switch off.
2. HELP YOUR WORSHIP CENTER ATTENDEES ACCESS YOUR SERVICE CAPTIONS
Here's what a deaf or hard-of-hearing attendee can do to see the captions:
Download the Ava app: www.ava.me/get
Tap on Join a friend/room now
Type the location's Ava Name (e.g. worshipcentername) then tap Connect
If your Host Device has Ava on, they will connect to it and will see the captions appear on their screen too.
Print and display these signs for user instructions
Tip: This video provides some ideas on how you can communicate Ava to your attendees.
When putting together your own materials:
Here are some suggested paragraphs to talk about Ava.
Here is a folder with some logo files for Ava that you can use.
3. ADVOCATING FOR AVA WELCOME AT YOUR WORSHIP CENTER
If you know the staff well enough to ask them to use Ava:
Share this guide with the worship center staff and ask them to review it.
Direct them to our Worship Center web page.
If you do not know the staff, or would prefer our help:
Collect the worship center name, email address and/or phone number.
Complete the accessibility request so we can make the worship center staff aware that a community member would like to have Ava available.
We'll let you know when we have contacted the worship center and try to have Ava set up.