Speech and audio data includes recorded speech with transcripts, conversational audio, read prompts, accented and dialect speech, wake words and non-speech sound events. Teams building speech recognition, text-to-speech, voice assistants, call analytics and audio event detection buy it to cover new languages, accents, acoustic conditions and domains.
Typical fields
- Audio file ID, duration, sample rate and channels
- Language, dialect and accent
- Transcript with word-level or segment-level timestamps
- Pseudonymous speaker ID and non-identifying attributes such as age band
- Recording environment, device and noise conditions
- Scenario, such as call centre, in-car or far-field
- Consent and licence reference per recording
Sources and methods
Most licensed speech is collected from paid contributors who record scripted prompts or conversations through a mobile app or phone line after giving informed consent for AI use. Transcripts are produced by trained transcribers with quality review. Some datasets come from licensed broadcasts or podcasts. Because voice recordings relate to identifiable people, they need careful handling, and providers should not sell voiceprints for identifying individuals.
Delivery and pricing
Audio is delivered as WAV or FLAC files with transcripts in JSON or text, usually through cloud storage. Pricing is typically per hour of audio, varying with language rarity, transcription detail, speaker diversity, exclusivity and whether data is custom collected.
Before you buy
- Ask for the consent wording shown to speakers.
- Check speaker counts, gender and age balance and accent coverage.
- Review transcription accuracy on a sample.
- Confirm sample rate and recording conditions.
- Clarify what happens when a speaker withdraws consent.