[3]: 94 [8] She was assisted by her mother, who repeated questions from the examiners when their movements or enunciation made lipreading a challenge.

[9][8][4] As a speaker unable to hear her own voice, Lavaud had a unique speaking style that was commented on in news coverage about her defense.

[2] Professor Félix Gaiffe noted that despite a hoarse and monotonous timber, the defense was delivered with intelligible ease.

[9] Lavaud passed the defense with honorable mention and expressed a desire to work in a library when asked by journalists what she planned to do next.

[11] Lavaud was the third deaf woman to become a member of Société des gens de lettres, after Yvonne Pitrois and Louise Asser.