| --- |
| dataset_info: |
| features: |
| - name: audio |
| dtype: |
| audio: |
| sampling_rate: 22050 |
| - name: speaker_id |
| dtype: string |
| - name: sentence_id |
| dtype: string |
| - name: duration |
| dtype: float64 |
| - name: text |
| dtype: string |
| - name: split |
| dtype: string |
| splits: |
| - name: train |
| num_bytes: 1573717458 |
| num_examples: 2373 |
| - name: test |
| num_bytes: 1119588307 |
| num_examples: 1510 |
| - name: validation |
| num_bytes: 213986775 |
| num_examples: 268 |
| - name: held_out |
| num_bytes: 531217549 |
| num_examples: 720 |
| download_size: 2799400227 |
| dataset_size: 3438510089 |
| configs: |
| - config_name: default |
| data_files: |
| - split: train |
| path: data/train-* |
| - split: test |
| path: data/test-* |
| - split: validation |
| path: data/validation-* |
| - split: held_out |
| path: data/held_out-* |
| authors: |
| - lenaso |
| pretty_name: Saar-Voice |
| --- |
| |
| # Saar-Voice |
|
|
| A multi-speaker speech corpus for the Rhine Franconian dialect of German as spoken in Saarbrücken and the surrounding region, referred to loosely as **Saarländisch**. |
|
|
| ## Overview |
|
|
| | Property | Value | |
| |---|---| |
| | Speakers | 9 (P01–P09) | |
| | Total duration | ~6 hours | |
| | Sentences (recorded) | 4,871 | |
| | Sentences (unrecorded) | 3,901 | |
| | Sampling rate | 22,050 Hz | |
| | Language | Saarländisch (Rhine Franconian) | |
| | Format | WAV (stereo, 16-bit) | |
|
|
| ## Splits |
|
|
| | Split | Sentences | Purpose | |
| |---|---|---| |
| | `train` | 2,373 | Model training | |
| | `test` | 1,510 | Test set | |
| | `validation` | 268 | Validation set | |
| | `held_out` | 720 | Held-out speaker evaluation | |
|
|
| The `held_out` split contains recordings from speakers not seen during training, intended for further tests such as transfer learning experiments. |
|
|
| The dataset additionally includes [`unrecorded.json`](./unrecorded.json), a list of 3,905 sentences for which no audio was recorded, provided for completeness and for future work. |
|
|
| ## Speakers |
|
|
| The corpus includes 9 speakers (P01–P09) of varying age and gender, all native speakers of Saarländisch. Speaker metadata (age, gender) is not included in this release. |
|
|
| ## Text |
|
|
| Sentences were sourced from: |
|
|
| - the [MASSIVE dataset](https://huggingface.co/datasets/AmazonScience/massive) (German subset) + localized into Saarländisch dialect orthography |
| - several books, poem and short story collections |
| - texts provided directly by the local author community |
|
|
| A detailed breakdown is available in the corresponding paper. |
|
|
| ## Usage |
|
|
| ```python |
| from datasets import load_dataset |
| |
| ds = load_dataset("UdS-LSV/Saar-Voice") |
| |
| # Access the training split |
| for example in ds["train"]: |
| audio = example["audio"] # dict with array, sampling_rate, path |
| text = example["text"] # dialect transcription |
| spk = example["speaker_id"] # e.g. "P01" |
| ``` |
|
|
| ## Citation |
|
|
| If you use this dataset, please cite: |
|
|
| ```bibtex |
| @misc{oberkircher2026saarvoice, |
| title = {Saar-Voice: A Multi-Speaker Saarbrücken Dialect Speech Corpus}, |
| author = {Lena S. Oberkircher and Jesujoba O. Alabi and Dietrich Klakow and Jürgen Trouvain}, |
| year = {2026}, |
| url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.11803} |
| } |
| ``` |
|
|
| ## License |
|
|
| This dataset is released under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
|
|
| ## Acknowledgements |
|
|
