Abstract

This report describes a speech corpus based on the “Up” series of documentary films by director Michael Apted, showing a set of individuals at seven year intervals over a period of 42 years. The broader goal of the research reported here is to analyze age-related change in speech across the adult life span. The corpus is based on portions of the films featuring the participants at ages 21 through 49. The current report describes the resulting database, which is freely available upon request to researchers, as well as some sample analyses of speaking rate and vowel formants. These analyses reveal subtle changes in each talker’s speaking rate and vowel spaces in the same direction as in previous studies investigating vocal aging, despite the much younger age range represented in this corpus.

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