README.md

metadata

license: cc-by-nc-sa-4.0
task_categories:
  - automatic-speech-recognition
language:
  - zh
pretty_name: ChildMandarin
size_categories:
  - 10K<n<100K
features:
  - name: audio
    dtype: audio
  - name: transcription
    dtype: string
  - name: speaker
    dtype: string
  - name: gender
    dtype: string
  - name: age
    dtype: string
  - name: location
    dtype: string
  - name: device
    dtype: string
extra_gated_prompt: >-
  This dataset is made available for academic and non-commercial research
  purposes only. By accessing or using the dataset, you agree to comply with the
  following terms and conditions:  

  1. The dataset may only be used for academic research and educational
  purposes. Any commercial use, including but not limited to commercial product
  development, commercial speech recognition services, or monetization of the
  dataset in any form, is strictly prohibited.  

  2. The dataset must not be used for any research or applications that may
  infringe upon the privacy rights of the recorded participants. Any attempt to
  re-identify participants or extract personally identifiable information from
  the dataset is strictly prohibited. Researchers must ensure that their use of
  the dataset aligns with ethical research practices and institutional review
  board (IRB) guidelines where applicable.  

  3. If a participant (or their legal guardian) requests the removal of their
  data from the dataset, all recipients of the dataset must comply by deleting
  the affected data from their records. Researchers must acknowledge that such
  withdrawal requests may occur and agree to take reasonable steps to ensure
  compliance.  

  4. The dataset, in whole or in part, may not be redistributed, resold, or
  shared with any third party. Each researcher or institution must independently
  request access to the dataset and agree to these terms.  

  5. Any published work (e.g., papers, reports, presentations) that uses this
  dataset must properly cite the dataset as specified in the accompanying
  documentation.  

  6. You may create derived works (e.g., processed versions of the dataset) for
  research purposes, but such derivatives must not be distributed beyond your
  research group without prior written permission from the dataset
  maintainers.  

  7. The dataset is provided "as is" without any warranties, express or implied.
  The dataset maintainers are not responsible for any direct or indirect
  consequences arising from the use of the dataset.  

  8. Failure to comply with these terms may result in revocation of dataset
  access. The dataset maintainers reserve the right to deny access to any
  individual or institution found in violation of these terms.  

  9. If the researcher is employed by a for-profit, commercial entity, the
  researcher's employer shall also be bound by these terms and conditions, and
  the researcher hereby represents that they are fully authorized to enter into
  this agreement on behalf of such employer.

  By requesting access to the dataset, you acknowledge that you have read,
  understood, and agreed to these terms.  
extra_gated_fields:
  Name: text
  Email: text
  Affiliation: text
  Position: text
  Your Supervisor/manager/director: text
  I agree to the Terms of Access: checkbox
  I agree to use this dataset for non-commercial use ONLY: checkbox

ChildMandarin: A Comprehensive Mandarin Speech Dataset for Young Children Aged 3-5

Introduction

ChildMandarin is a comprehensive, open-source Mandarin Chinese speech dataset specifically designed for research on young children aged 3 to 5. This dataset addresses the critical lack of publicly available resources for this age group, enabling advancements in automatic speech recognition (ASR), speaker verification (SV), and other related fields. The dataset is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license, meaning it is available for non-commercial use.

Dataset Details

This dataset contains 41.25 hours of high-quality speech data collected from 397 children across 22 provinces in China. Key features of the dataset include:

• Age Range: 3-5 years old (inclusive). This is a crucial age range often overlooked in speech datasets.
• Speakers: 397 unique child speakers.
• Geographic Diversity: Speakers from 22 of China's 34 provincial-level administrative divisions, capturing a range of regional accents.
• Gender Balance: Approximately equal representation of male and female speakers across all age groups.
• Recording Conditions: Recordings were made in quiet environments using a variety of smartphones (both Android and iPhone devices) to ensure real-world applicability.
• Content: Natural, conversational speech during age-appropriate activities. The content is unrestricted, promoting spontaneous and natural interactions.
• Audio Format: WAV files with a 16kHz sampling rate.
• Transcriptions: Carefully crafted, character-level manual transcriptions.
• Annotations: The dataset includes annotations for each utterance, and for the speakers level.
  • Utterance-level: id, audio (file path), text (transcription).
  • Speaker-level: speaker_id, age, gender, accent, location (province), device.

Dataset Structure

The dataset is split into three subsets:

Split	# Speakers	# Utterances	Duration (hrs)	Avg. Utterance Length (s)
train	317	32,658	33.35	3.68
validation	39	4,057	3.78	3.35
test	41	4,198	4.12	3.53
Total	397	40,913	41.25	3.52

The dataset file structure is as follows.

data/  
├── train/*.tar  
├── dev/*.tar  
└── test/*.tar   
speaker_info.xlsx  # summary of speaker information

Each WAV file has a corresponding JSON file with the same name, containing its annotations.

For more details, please refer to our paper ChildMandarin.

📚 Cite me

@article{zhou2024childmandarin,
  title={ChildMandarin: A Comprehensive Mandarin Speech Dataset for Young Children Aged 3-5},
  author={Zhou, Jiaming and Wang, Shiyao and Zhao, Shiwan and He, Jiabei and Sun, Haoqin and Wang, Hui and Liu, Cheng and Kong, Aobo and Guo, Yujie and Qin, Yong},
  journal={arXiv preprint arXiv:2409.18584},
  year={2024}
}