Professor Georges is Dean of Applied Science at the University of Canberra and his main research focus is on sex determination in reptiles. He is also the chair of the ACT Flora and Fauna Committee, responsible for advising the ACT Government on biodiversity and ecology issues, among other committee and management appointments. Canberra's voices collected in national research project
Canberrans can literally have their say in a new research project to record the Aussie accent.
Researchers from the University of Canberra and the Australian National University are involved in the national AusTalk initiative which will record the voices and faces of 1000 speakers of all ages from around the country. Canberrans are invited to apply.
- Photo/vision opportunity: University of Canberra researcher Dr Yuko Kinoshita, ANU researcher Dr Shunichi Ishihara and research assistant Sharifa AlGhowinem will demonstrate the recording equipment and be available for interview at the University of Canberra tomorrow at 12noon.
By recording and documenting the diversity of Australian accents the project has implications for everything from ordering pizza over the phone to evaluating forensic voice evidence. It will help develop technologies to help deaf people and those with learning difficulties.
It will also help define the Aussie accent.
“We have this image of the Australian accent, but at the moment we don’t even have enough data to know what we really mean by Aussie accents,” Dr Kinoshita said.
“There has never been a large-scale collection of audio-video speech data in Australia, which also includes real conversational speech.”
As well as providing a permanent record of Australian English and supporting research in the fields such as speech science and linguistics, AusTalk will also support a range of speech technologies such as voice and face recognition and authentication in banking and taxi services. The database will enhance such applications as hearing aids, cochlear implants for the deaf and better computer aids for learning-impaired children.
The UC team of Dr Kinoshita, Professor Michael Wagner, Dr Roland Goecke, Dr Girija Chetty and Associate Professor Dat Tran is particularly interested in making speech technologies such as speech and speaker recognition work better for Australian accents. The team is also working on estimating some characteristics in voice and facial expressions, such as gender and age and even whether a caller is happy, angry or depressed.
The ANU team of Dr Shunichi Ishihara and Adjunct Professor Philip Rose is working with Dr Kinoshita on forensic voice comparison for Australian English.
“The availability of the AusTalk data will considerably enhance the reliability of forensic voice comparisons in Australia,” Dr Ishihara said.
AusTalk is supported by the Australian Research Council and 11 participating universities.
What: AusTalk demonstration
When: Tuesday 30 August, 12 noon
Where: Building 9, room A17, University of Canberra
To volunteer for the AusTalk project:
Anyone over 18, who has had all their schooling in Australia, is invited to be part of the national collection of Australian English accents. Participants will be recorded on three separate occasions, reading words and sentences, having a conversation, and playing a game with another participant. Speakers with foreign accents will be recorded in the second stage of the project.
Register your interest at: http://austalk.edu.au/
Dr Kinoshita, Dr Ishihara and Dr Goecke are available for interview.
Contact the University of Canberra media team
Amanda Powell M: 0408 826 362 T: 02 6201 5422
