diff --git a/whisperx/alignment.py b/whisperx/alignment.py
index c0d9c84..d98c290 100644
--- a/whisperx/alignment.py
+++ b/whisperx/alignment.py
@@ -99,7 +99,8 @@ def align(
     interpolate_method: str = "nearest",
     return_char_alignments: bool = False,
     print_progress = False,
-    combined_progress = False
+    combined_progress = False,
+    total_segments = 0
 ) -> AlignedTranscriptionResult:
     """
     Align phoneme recognition predictions to known transcription.
@@ -118,9 +119,6 @@ def align(
     model_lang = align_model_metadata["language"]
     model_type = align_model_metadata["type"]
 
-    total_segments = len(list(transcript))
-    transcript = iter(transcript)
-
     # 1. Preprocess to keep only characters in dictionary
     for sdx, segment in enumerate(transcript):
         # strip spaces at beginning / end, but keep track of the amount.