Hi Otter.ai team,

I’ve been planning to write this public letter for a long time because you made my life easier and I want you to know how you did it.

I’m working as a software developer in Berlin for three years. My team includes very colorful, diverse, beautiful people, and they understand me if I prefer writing instead of speaking because I have a hearing impairment. Especially in a noisy environment, I need a helper tool to catch the words that I missed.

In 2020, two significant events occurred for me. Everybody knows the one; people started to wear masks because of the pandemic. So I couldn’t read the people’s lips if they ask me something in a train station, a hospital, a bank, or any public place. On the other side, people started using online meeting tools more actively. The second significant event was my surgery.

Because of my surgery, I met with my orthodontist and surgeon many times. In each meeting, I listened to them what they said carefully and took notes about the process. It was not easy to tell them, “can you please repeat for me?”, “is it possible for you to take off your mask to see the lips?”, “Sorry I can’t hear, can you write?” again and again. They were doing what I wanted with great patience and understanding.

Then I decided to try Otter.ai. My friends, my doctors, my surgeon, nurses, everybody loved this. Every time I got permission to use this application, I put the phone on the table and made a conversation better.

Maybe you did not do Otter.ai for this purpose, but it also reminded me of what they said later. Sometimes I forgot the next appointment date, but Otter.ai reminded me. Sometimes I forgot if I can open my mouth the first week after the surgery, but Otter.ai reminded me that I could only eat soft foods like pudding. There are many examples like this.

Now I’m waiting for the second surgery. I would like to record a video to thank you and tell my story speaking, but my speech disorders are still continuing.

Thanks, Otter.ai.