Zurich Corpus Database V2.0
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The Zurich Corpus of Vowel and Voice Quality
Version 2.0
Dieter Maurer, Christian d'Heureuse, Heidy Suter, Volker Dellwo,
Daniel Friedrichs, Thayabaran Kathiresan
Documents, quicklinks
Main body (transferred from version 1.0) – extensive variation of production parameters
Nonprofessionals:
>> Children
>> Women
>> Men
Professionals:
>> Women,
ST speakers
>> Women,
CS speakers
>> Women,
EC speakers
>> Men,
ST speakers
>> Men,
CS speakers
>> Men,
EC speakers
Entire main body:
>> All
speakers
Side body (transferred from version 1.0) – reference utterances
Reference speakers, nonprofessionals:
>> Children
>> Women
>> Men
Entire side body:
>> All
speakers
Entire systmatic sample (transferred from version 1.0)
>> Entire systematic sample, all speakers
New recordings integrated in version 2.0
Entire corpus, version 2.0
>> Entire corpus, all speakers and recordings
Content
Existing databases of isolated vowel sounds or vowel sounds embedded in consonantal context generally document only limited variation of basic production parameters. Thus, concerning the possible variation range of vowel and voice quality-related sound characteristics, there is a lack of broad phenomenological and descriptive references that allow for a comprehensive understanding of vowel acoustics and for an evaluation of the extent to which corresponding existing approaches and models can be generalised.
In order to contribute to the building up of such references, in 2018, we have published the first version of a novel database that exceeds any existing collection by size and diversity of vocalic characteristics (Maurer et al., 2018). Here, in the context of the publication of the treatise Acoustics of the Vowel – Indices (Maurer, 2024), a second and enlarged version of the database is published. In its main and systematic part, it comprises c. 34 500 utterances of 70 speakers (46 nonprofessional speakers, children, women and men, and 24 professional actors/actresses and singers of straight theatre, contemporary singing, and European classical singing). This main and systematic part of the database focuses on sounds of the long Standard German vowels /i-y-e-ø-ɛ-a-o-u/ produced with varying basic production parameters such as phonation type, vocal effort, fundamental frequency, vowel context and speaking or singing style. In addition, a read text and, for professionals, songs are also included. The database is accessible for scientific use, and further extensions are in progress. Additional natural, (re-)synthesised and filtered sounds are also presented in this second version of the database, these sounds being related to either the experiments described in Maurer (2024) or the Additions section (see the corresponding link in the title page of the corpus).
For details, please refer to the Handbook.
References
Maurer, D., d'Heureuse, C., Suter, H., Dellwo, V., Friedrichs, D., and Kathiresan, T. (2018). The Zurich Corpus of Vowel and Voice Quality, Version 1.0. In Proceedings of Interspeech 2018 (pp. 1417-1421).
Maurer, D. (2024). Acoustics of the Vowel – Indices. Peter Lang International Academic Publishers.