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We built voice modulation to mask gender in technical interviews

blog.interviewing.io

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Re: We built voice modulation to mask gender in technical interviews

#31

Post by weberc2 »

gravypod wrote: post #18

Why not just use text? There are many speech characteristics of gender that will never be found and masked by modulation. Simple placements of words, parts of speech referring to the self, and other things are all much better clues to gender then voice frequency and pitch. For example, when speaking to some people who I know who are either naturally very high or low pitch, or are trans-gendered, there is a lot more i…

Text doesn't solve the problems you described. I believe there could be non-content-related clues present in voice-chat that are absent in text-chat, but all of your examples were content-based clues.

Re: We built voice modulation to mask gender in technical interviews

#32

Post by ubernostrum »

malcolmgreaves wrote: post #24
elcapitan wrote: post #2

I want applicant-side voice modulation to mask my insecurity and non-native language skills.

Both maturity and strong communication are important for any professional position.

Both maturity and strong communication are important for any professional position.

So, shall you start firing executives at VC firms, or shall I?

Re: We built voice modulation to mask gender in technical interviews

#34

Post by ranko »

Gender blinding in orchestral auditions (which usually involves screening the performers from sight and thus is pretty-much foolproof) has been shown to improve the percentage of women who are hired.

See, for example, 'Orchestrating Impartiality: The Impact of "Blind" Auditions on Female Musicians', Claudia Goldin, Cecilia Rouse: http://www.nber.org/papers/w5903

Re: We built voice modulation to mask gender in technical interviews

#35

Post by yanilkr »

Sweet that some one is trying new things with ideas.

But Oh boy, Life does not revolve around tech interviews. Make peace with it. An old school psychologist would observe us and say that the people obsessed with tech interviews faced an emotional toll of rejection during early career and are trying to get over it.

Google, Facebook and other companies are like parents of the tech kids and the kids are seeking some kind of approval or validation from them via passing their technical interviews. You are not cool enough if you don't crack our interview.

Its possible we are doing something very wrong here.

Re: We built voice modulation to mask gender in technical interviews

#36

Post by fredo699 »

ubernostrum wrote: post #32
malcolmgreaves wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both maturity and strong communication are important for any professional position.

Both maturity and strong communication are important for any professional position. So, shall you start firing executives at VC firms, or shall I?

It's a simple fact that if a potential employee cannot communicate with the rest of the team, that is a detriment.

The employer should be able to decide whether or not that detriment is enough to justify not hiring this person.

Re: We built voice modulation to mask gender in technical interviews

#37

Post by jachee »

benkuhn wrote: post #15

I would really have liked to see them check whether the gender-blinding actually worked. Even if someone's voice is modulated, they may have gendered behavior patterns that could influence someone's performance ratings. I wouldn't be surprised if I could guess the gender of a voice-modulated person pretty accurately from other cues. To combat this, they could have asked the interviewer during the performance assessme…

In the example clips, to me, her vocal fry was a gender tell, even after modulation.

Re: We built voice modulation to mask gender in technical interviews

#38

Post by Kevin_S »

ranko wrote: post #34

Gender blinding in orchestral auditions (which usually involves screening the performers from sight and thus is pretty-much foolproof) has been shown to improve the percentage of women who are hired. See, for example, 'Orchestrating Impartiality: The Impact of "Blind" Auditions on Female Musicians', Claudia Goldin, Cecilia Rouse: http://www.nber.org/papers/w5903

That's interesting, I would have thought being able to see actual finger movements to analyze mechanics is a part of the evaluation process. Could be totally off base though I suppose.

Re: We built voice modulation to mask gender in technical interviews

#39

Post by leeny »

benkuhn wrote: post #15

I would really have liked to see them check whether the gender-blinding actually worked. Even if someone's voice is modulated, they may have gendered behavior patterns that could influence someone's performance ratings. I wouldn't be surprised if I could guess the gender of a voice-modulated person pretty accurately from other cues. To combat this, they could have asked the interviewer during the performance assessme…

Aline from interviewing.io here. Great idea!

Re: We built voice modulation to mask gender in technical interviews

#40

Post by jsprogrammer »

Jemmeh wrote: post #25
benkuhn wrote: post #15

I would really have liked to see them check whether the gender-blinding actually worked. Even if someone's voice is modulated, they may have gendered behavior patterns that could influence someone's performance ratings. I wouldn't be surprised if I could guess the gender of a voice-modulated person pretty accurately from other cues. To combat this, they could have asked the interviewer during the performance assessme…

This would be a fantastic additional thing to monitor for. It was my first thought after hearing the voice modulation clips-- even in a manly voice, someone saying, "Oh I totally sound like a dude" sounded quite feminine since most guys wouldn't say "totally." Two things I noticed from the clip on the FastCompany article-- it's modulated, but I can hear A.) Vocal Fry B.) Statements that sound like they're ending with…

What evidence do you have that some speaking patterns are more common with women? Can you link to some data?

Edit: Lots of opinions here. Still no data.

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