Blind audition

In a blind audition the identity of the performer is concealed from the judges so as to prevent bias. The performance takes place behind a curtain so that the judges cannot see the performer. Blind auditions are standard in symphony orchestras and have been shown to increase the hiring of women. According to a 2001 study by Cecilia Rouse of Princeton and Claudia Goldin of Harvard, the introduction of blind auditions to American symphony orchestras increased the probability that a woman would advance from preliminary rounds by 50 percent. Among those symphonies, "about 10 percent of orchestra members were female around 1970, compared to about 35 percent in the mid-1990s." Rouse and Goldin attribute about 30 percent of this gain to the advent of blind auditions, though they admit that their "estimates have large standard errors and at least one persistent effect in the opposite direction."[1] Jazz bassist and clinical psychologist Art Davis is known for launching a legal case which led to the current system of blind auditions for orchestras.[2][3] In 2010, the competitive talent show The Voice of Holland introduced the use of blind auditions to televised talent shows; the format was then quickly franchised to dozens of other countries. Similarly blind judging and blind jury represent the same premise of an item or person being judged solely on its own merits.