Top 10 Ways to Customize Your Audio Data Collection Projects

Before we get down to telling you how you can actually customize your audio data collection project, let us first walk you through what speech collection is all about.

Speech collection is basically a procedure involving the collection and evaluation of high-quality, audio-based data from a variety of sources. Data collection, without a doubt, has an integral part to play in the Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) system wherein the comprehension and translation of diverse languages take place in just a few seconds. However, in order to facilitate this, it is extremely important that the audio data is interpreted and translated accurately with adequate exposure to high-quality speech data.

Before starting the whole process, you must first know how you intend to structure the voice data. For clarity, we have enlisted 10 prominent ways in which you can customize your speech data based on your distinct needs, project costs, and a gamut of other parameters.

Top 10 Ways To Customize Your Audio Data Collection Project

1. Quality of the audio used
2. Structure of your script
3. Demographic variables
4. Targeted language
5. Audio channel requirements
6. Structure of audio files or recordings
7. Non-native accents and dialects
8. Number of participants
9. Number of utterances and repetitions
10. Speech data transcription or labelling requirements

Let us dive deeper into the various ways in which audio data collection can be customized:

1. Quality of the audio used

While recording voice notes, you obviously don’t want to disrupt the speech with distracting noises, right?! So, in order to facilitate this, you must control the background noises and make sure you process only high-quality speech data through a voice recognition algorithm.

2. Structure of your script

According to your distinct collection needs, you can customize the structure of your script that suits every participant you intend to focus on. You might want to make a single speech for all participants - or alternatively, create different speeches for different participants.

For instance, you might want to create a unique script for the female participants or simply make a single script for all the participants.

3. Demographic variables

By making a few modifications in demographics, you can actually narrow down your target audience.

For instance, you can choose to target children vs. adults, male vs female, native vs. non-native English speakers, and so on.

4. Targeted language

In order to get the desired output, it is extremely important to gain clarity on what language you intend to collect speech data in. Once you know which languages you plan to collect audio data for, it will actually speed up the whole data collection process and also help in fine-tuning the quality of data to be collected. In addition, you must also be clear as to what type of participants you are looking for - whether you need only native participants, non-native ones, or both!

For instance, you might look for non-native Spanish speakers.

5. Audio channel requirements

Are you looking for any particular audio format for data collection? Another way you can customize your speech data collection is by keeping tabs on your audio channel requirements. Decide whether you intend to go for mono recordings or stereo ones. Also, make up your mind on the file formats you are considering along with your audio compression requirements.

6. Structure of audio files or recordings

Have you thought of a specific structure for your audio recordings or files? If not, then you should definitely give heed to your post-processing requirements. You can decide on customizing your audio data by eliminating various noises like that of a tap or a click, stitching several audio files together, and even deciding on the need for leading or trailing silences.

7. Non-native accents and dialects

You must figure out whether you want to collect the audio notes in a non-native or foreign dialect and also if there is a specific accent that you are seeking. You can easily customize your speech data in a variety of foreign dialects for participants belonging to different regions. Audio data collection can be carried out in different accents and dialects, thereby attracting participants who speak diverse dialects in a variety of accents. You can also target a particular span of dialects in order to prevent exposure to systematic biases in your speech recognition algorithm.

For instance, you might want to focus on speakers with a Mexican Spanish accent.

8. Number of participants

Understanding the needs of your potential participants is extremely pivotal when you are deciding on the collection size. If you aim to collect speech notes for a variety of languages, then you must take into consideration the actual number of participants that will be required for every target language. In addition, if you are planning to collect audio data as per the demographics, then you must figure out your preferred segregation for every demographic group you intend to incorporate.

For instance, 35 British English speakers or 50 Female speakers.

9. Number of utterances and repetitions

You must determine the total number of utterances you require to understand and collect your speech data. The more the utterances, the larger will be the size of the participants you will require for the collection of speech notes. According to the type of audio data you require, you can customize the script of each participant distinctly.

For instance, 30 participants with 55 utterances each would mean a total of 1650 repetitions. 30 participants x 55 utterances per participant = 1650 total repetitions.

10. Speech data transcription or labelling requirements

If you intend to label or transcribe your audio data before the final delivery, that too in adherence to a particular set of noise-marking, segmentation, or labelling guidelines, you might want to consider taking help from a professional translation service provider. Also, many service providers offer transcription services to get your speech transcript ready in different languages.

This way, you get to transcribe your speech data professionally, that too in a target language of your choice.

Wrapping Up

Choosing to customize your audio data collection project can significantly affect the process of collection of data and recruitment of participants, the delivery timeline, the overall costs, and also how files get delivered. With an experienced speech data provider, you can easily customize your speech data collection project and move as per your distinct requirements.