Learn the backstory on why Hub says all children are female, and why this does not matter.
LENA's processing algorithms require a gender value.
LENA's audio processing technology was originally developed with an assumption that accurate child identification might require separate algorithms for boys versus girls. We later found that assumption was false, but by then the binary requirement for a male or female value was already baked into the processor.
In other words... in order for a file to be processed, Hub must "stamp" the recording as male or female, but the gender value makes no actual difference in the processing results.
LENA Online was updated to support gender privacy and flexibility, including the option to omit gender.
In 2022 we made gender input optional on the child record in LENA Online, while also expanding the available options. Given that processing requires a male or female value for each file – a "processing gender"– this new flexibility created a problem!
Instead of undertaking costly changes to the processing technology or requiring all LENA users to immediately update their Hub software, our solution was to adjust LENA Online. We separated reported gender from processing gender. Reported gender is the new flexible field that users see in LENA Online. Processing gender, the original required field, is now hidden and used only for processing. We then applied one processing gender value to all children regardless of reported gender. Coin toss... and it's a girl! Now Hub reads and uses the value FEMALE to stamp all children's LENA Day recordings.
Hub is hard-coded to display the Processing Gender, not the Reported Gender.
Logged-in Hub users see and confirm information about the child whose device they've just connected. Unfortunately, the current Hub doesn't know about the new reported gender field and can only show processing gender. We recognize this is confusing, and the next version of Hub will not display a gender value.