| --- |
| language: |
| - sw |
| - yo |
| - en |
| pretty_name: Ntina Voice Dataset V0 |
| task_categories: |
| - automatic-speech-recognition |
| tags: |
| - code-switching |
| - swahili |
| - yoruba |
| - education |
| - reading-assessment |
| license: other |
| --- |
| |
| # Ntina Voice Dataset V0 |
|
|
| V0 contains read-aloud and prompt-based recordings from one adult Swahili |
| speaker from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, two adult Yoruba speakers, |
| and two Yoruba child participants aged 10–15. It is intended for development |
| of the Ntina TaRL reading-assessment benchmark. |
|
|
| ## Development status |
|
|
| This is a public development V0 dataset. Contributor consent is confirmed for |
| all speakers, and guardian consent is confirmed for both child participants. |
| Questions and corrections can be sent to `ashuza1411@gmail.com`. |
|
|
| Hugging Face: [Ash11/ntina-voice-dataset-v0](https://huggingface.co/datasets/Ash11/ntina-voice-dataset-v0) |
|
|
| ## Contents |
|
|
| - 30 isolated syllables |
| - 40 isolated words |
| - 2 paragraphs |
| - 2 stories |
| - 4 comprehension-question recordings |
| - 10 Swahili scripted Set B prompt recordings |
| - 20 code-switched Set C scaffolding recordings |
| - 86 Yoruba–English Set C scaffolding recordings |
| - 10 Yoruba–English scripted Set B prompt recordings |
| - 58 Yoruba child Set A recordings: 29 syllables, 22 words, 2 paragraphs, |
| 1 story, and 4 comprehension questions |
| - 262 WAV files total |
|
|
| Ten Yoruba child Set B source responses do not have verbatim transcripts and |
| are deliberately excluded from V0. They are retained outside this package for |
| a possible later dataset version. |
|
|
| All distributed clips are mono, 16 kHz, signed 16-bit PCM WAV. The original |
| MP4 recordings remain outside this prepared dataset directory. |
|
|
| ## Structure |
|
|
| - `audio/` — one WAV file per item |
| - `metadata.csv` — transcript, item, speaker, duration, format, source, and |
| provenance fields |
| - `speakers.csv` — pseudonymous speaker metadata |
|
|
| Contributors are represented only by the pseudonymous IDs `spk-sw-001`, |
| `spk-yo-001`, `spk-yo-002`, `spk-yo-003`, and `spk-yo-004`. |
| The final two IDs represent different child participants: `spk-yo-003` |
| recorded the first Set A folder and `spk-yo-004` recorded the second Set A |
| folder. Filenames contain no real name. |
|
|
| For Yoruba Set C, the `yoruba_Recording C2 - 45` source folder maps to the |
| first 44 scaffold acts. Source recordings C46 through C87 map to the |
| remaining 42 acts. C88 is not present and is not expected in V0. |
|
|
| ## Processing |
|
|
| The syllable, word, and comprehension recordings were split at the midpoint |
| of detected silence intervals. Detection used `-35 dB`, with a minimum gap of |
| 0.6 seconds for syllables and 1.0 second for words and comprehension items. |
| Paragraph and story recordings were converted as complete clips. All outputs |
| were resampled to mono 16 kHz PCM. |
|
|
| The preparation process is reproducible with: |
|
|
| ```bash |
| node tools/prepare-seta-v0.js |
| node tools/prepare-yoruba-setc-v0.js |
| node tools/prepare-yoruba-child-v0.js |
| node tools/finalize-dataset-v0.js |
| ``` |
|
|
| ## Validation and publication |
|
|
| The prepared directory contains 262 metadata rows matching exactly 262 audio |
| files. There are no missing or extra clips or blank transcripts. All 58 child |
| clips are mono, 16 kHz, signed 16-bit PCM. |
|
|
| The public Hugging Face repository is |
| [Ash11/ntina-voice-dataset-v0](https://huggingface.co/datasets/Ash11/ntina-voice-dataset-v0). |
| Audio is ignored by the |
| application Git repository to prevent it from being pushed to GitHub; WAV |
| files in the separate dataset repository are configured for Git LFS. |
|
|
| ## Limitations |
|
|
| - One speaker is not representative of Congolese Swahili diversity. |
| - Four Yoruba speakers are not representative of Yoruba dialect diversity. |
| - The Yoruba Set C reference text and recording alignment were verified by a |
| contributor for V0. |
| - “Congolese Swahili” is not a sufficiently precise dialect label; the |
| speaker's region must be recorded before dialect claims are made. |
| - Audio boundaries and alignment were confirmed by the contributor for V0. |
| - Set B contains scripted readings of the prompt text, not spontaneous |
| free-response answers for the adult contributors. Untranscribed child Set B |
| responses are excluded from V0 and reserved for a later version. |
| - The child Set A session is partial. Missing items are `yo-ls-020`, |
| `yo-w-001`–`yo-w-010`, `yo-w-012`–`yo-w-018`, `yo-w-020`, and `yo-s-002`. |
| - This V0 contains monolingual Set A reading material, not spontaneous |
| code-switched speech. |
|
|
| ## Consent, licensing, and access |
|
|
| Contributor consent is recorded for every speaker, and guardian consent is |
| recorded for both child participants. Confirmation was entered on 2026-08-15; |
| the original document-signing date was not supplied. V0 uses custom |
| development terms (`other` in Hugging Face metadata). Contact |
| `ashuza1411@gmail.com` with reuse questions. Source texts retain their |
| original attribution and license requirements. |
|
|
