Machine Listening: Making Speech Recognition Systems More Inclusive

Study explores how African American English speakers adapt their speech to be understood by voice technology.

African American English speakers adjust rate and pitch based on audience. Credit: Michelle Cohn, Zion Mengesha, Michal Lahav, and Courtney Heldreth

WASHINGTON, April 30, 2024 – Interactions with voice technology, such as Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and Google Assistant, can make life easier by increasing efficiency and productivity. However, errors in generating and understanding speech during interactions are common. When using these devices, speakers often style-shift their speech from their normal patterns into a louder and… click to read more

From: JASA Express Letters
Article: African American English speakers’ pitch variation and rate adjustments for imagined technological and human addressees
DOI: 10.1121/10.0025484