abstract
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Automated acoustical analysis is often difficult because a priori knowledge about vocalizers informs the search parameters of algorithms. As male and female voices differ on average, when measuring the voice, these a priori features unfortunately often manifest themselves by requiring the researcher to ask potentially invasive questions about the gender of the vocalizer, or assume the gender of the vocalizer in order to adjust analysis parameters. When adjusted by hand, this creates a research bottleneck. Furthermore, adjusted analysis parameters are rarely reported. With an increasing focus on inclusivity in research, as well as a focus on larger samples and big data, making new methods in voice analysis that can break these barriers accessible are essential. VoiceLab software offers automated acoustical analysis that does not require a priori knowledge of acoustic phonetics, idiosyncratic programming languages, or vocalizers’ gender, and automatically logs all analysis parameters. VoiceLab analyses are fully reproducible and require little to no knowledge about acoustical analysis from the user.