How VoiceLab works

The big picture

You record a short clip (or upload one). The app listens to stable parts of your speech and measures a few acoustic features: how high your voice is (pitch), how your mouth shapes vowels (resonance / formants), and how much your pitch moves up and down (intonation).

Those measurements are compared to reference points—either typical ranges from speech research, or clips you saved as your own “starting voice” and “training target.” The result is a set of percentages and charts meant to help you practice, not to label you.

Step by step: one recording

1. You record or upload. Give the clip a name so you can find it later. Audio stays tied to your account.
2. The app finds voiced speech. It ignores long silences and focuses on parts where you are actually speaking, so one number represents your voice rather than background noise.
3. It measures pitch. Think of this as “how high or low” the vibration of your vocal folds is—the familiar idea of a higher or lower speaking voice.
4. It measures resonance (formants). These are bands of energy shaped by your tongue, lips, and jaw. They are why the same pitch can sound “brighter,” “darker,” or more “front” / “back” in the mouth. The app tracks the first three formant averages (F1, F2, F3) as simple Hz numbers.
5. It looks at intonation. How steady your pitch is and how wide it swings (minimum to maximum) both feed a smaller part of the overall score.
6. It compares you to references. For each feature, the app asks: “Where does this clip sit between a lower / more masculine-coded reference and a higher / more feminine-coded reference?” That becomes cue scores, then a headline blend.
7. You see results. Headline feminine-coded and masculine-coded percentages, breakdowns for pitch / formants / intonation, charts over time within the clip, and links to manage your personal baselines.

What “feminine-coded %” and “masculine-coded %” mean

These are training estimates based on acoustic patterns that, in research studies, tend to make listeners rate speech as more feminine or more masculine. They are weighted blends:

• 60% from resonance (formants), with the first formant (F1) counting the most
• 30% from average pitch
• 10% from intonation (pitch variability and range)

“Masculine-coded %” on the results page is simply the mirror of the cue scores (100% minus the feminine-coded cue on each line)—not a separate measurement.

Important: These scores do not tell you your gender, your identity, or how people will treat you. Microphone, room, health, and language all change the numbers. Use them only for your own practice goals.

Population benchmarks vs your personal baselines

On the Benchmarks page you can see reference values drawn from published vowel and pitch studies (for example, typical male and female average formants). Those are useful defaults when you have not set anything personal yet.

On Voice baselines you can go further:

• Starting voice — a recording of how you usually sound today (the low end of your personal scale).
• Training target — a recording of a sound you are working toward (the high end of your personal scale).

When both are set, each new clip is scored as progress between your own endpoints. If you only set one, the app fills the other end from population benchmarks. Changing baselines updates scores on your existing recordings automatically—you do not need to re-record.

Progress page and recording list

The Progress dashboard charts completed recordings over time: average pitch, formants, and headline percentages for the period you choose.

The Recordings page lists everything you have saved. Search by title to jump back to an older session, open the full analysis, or set a clip as a baseline from there or from the recording detail page.

You can also share a completed recording with a private link (audio + scores). Links expire after about 30 days unless you extend or turn sharing off sooner.

Tips for trustworthy numbers

• Use the same microphone and distance when you can.
• Record a few seconds of natural speech—not whispering, not shouting.
• Reduce background noise and echo if possible.
• Re-save baselines if you change mic or room.
• If a score looks wrong, try another take; resonance tracking sometimes struggles on very short or noisy clips.