Appalachian Accents and Speech Recognition Technology

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Have you ever tried text to speech with your accent, only to find your message garbled? In this episode of The Talking Appalachian Podcast, we'll explore speech technology and how AI interacts (and doesn't) with the unique accents found across America, including those in Appalachia. We discuss the 30 most misunderstood American accents by AI, trace the timeline of how AI speech recognition has developed, and uncover the struggles faced by speakers with regional accents. Finally, we spotlight the efforts researchers are making to train AI to better recognize and understand these accents that don’t always conform to “standard” English, and why it matters.

To register for the Appalachian Writing Project's institute for educators on Harnessing the Power of AI, follow this link

Research for this show: Which Accents Does AI Find Hardest to Understand? [Survey]

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Jewelry from coal, river glass, and discarded books handcrafted in the central Appalachian Mountains

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Unless another artist is featured, acoustic music on most episodes: "Steam Train" written by Elizabeth Cotten and performed by Landon Spain