Development of an Argentine Spanish hearing impaired speakers database

Abstract

Argentine Spanish hearing impaired speech has not been systematically registered or studied. A database with standardized methods for data collection and labeling is presented here. Speech of 600 speakers, adults, and children, with different types of hearing losses is recorded at 44100 Hz and 16 bits. The corpus consists of word lists, grouped by tonality and frequency of use, and five short sentences, containing all the phonemes and allophones. Semi-spontaneous speech, consisting of a description of two sets of simple pictures, is also recorded. Data are acoustically analyzed and labeled at the segmental—graphemic, phonetic and acoustic tiers—and suprasegmental levels, using a labeling method that incorporates psychoacoustic information into a combination of categorical and continuous descriptions of fundamental frequency. Syntactic labels are added to semi-spontaneous speech data. Labeled files are loaded into a relational SQL database to allow different types of queries. A complementary database provides information about personal and medical data, and results of hearing tests. These databases contribute to the description of acoustic-phonetic features of deaf speech, a comparison between speech perception and production, and new approaches for the adjustment of auditory prostheses. [Work supported by FONCYT, CONICET and Mutualidad Argentina de HipoacB̄4usicos.]