CORPORA from CSLU: Kids speech v1.1
OHSU # 0681-G
The Kids' Speech Corpus was developed to facilitate research about the characteristics of kids' speech at different ages and to train and evaluate recognizers for use in language training and other interactive tasks involving children. For instance, this corpus was used to train recognizers used in language development with deaf children. In cooperation with the Forest Grove School District speech was gathered from children in grades K through 10. Approximately 100 children at each grade level have been recorded.
The data collection was performed using the CSLU Speech Toolkit and two Pentium Pro computers running Windows NT. The protocol consists of a series of words and sentences that the child was prompted to repeat by a computer animated talking head. Each computer was manned by a CSLU staff member who monitored progress and helped the child with any difficulties. The average time spent by a child at the computer was 20 minutes, yielding approximately 8-10 minutes of speech (16 bit, 16khz, mono). The data are recorded through Soundblaster audio cards, with head-mounted microphones.
The following table shows the number of kids recorded for each grade at the end of the collection.
Grade Male Female
10 76 30
9 70 40
8 49 50
7 46 51
6 57 55
5 49 49
4 47 45
3 63 54
2 53 61
1 58 31
K 39 50
The development of a protocol for this data collection was driven by a variety of important principles. We wanted to collect words, phrases, and fluent speech in a manner that could be repeated for all of the children, regardless of age. This necessitated words and phrases that were simple enough to be mimicked by the youngest children (ages 5 or 6). In addition to this simplicity requirement, we tried to get a sampling of the most common biphones in as many contexts as possible.
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The Center for Spoken Language Understanding (CSLU) distributes corpora to commercial entities and academic institutions for a fee. Commercial entities can use these corpora for research but also for creating commercial products such as generating acoustic models for speech recognition.
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For more information and to listen to demos, visit the CSLU Corpora website at:
- CSLU, SOM CSLU
For more information, contact:
Technology Development Manager