If one of the goals is encouraging meritocracy, I cannot imagine why it was decided to add voice to the interview. From someone's voice I can frequently tell their gender & maybe their socioeconomic background, sometimes their race (or what I think their race is)... Basically I don't really buy the "meritocracy" argument if you still have to say "I'm a woman" or "I'm a man" at the start of a technical interview.