Celebrating Black History Month with a Vision of More Inclusive Speech Recognition

Black History Month is a time for reflection and celebration of African American culture, including the dialect known as African American Vernacular English (AAVE). AAVE has evolved over centuries from influences of African languages and creoles, and it continues to be influenced by Standard American English (SAE) and other regional and community-based dialects. Despite its complexity and distinctiveness, AAVE is often dismissed or misunderstood. One challenge for speech recognition technology is code-switching, where speakers switch between dialects or languages in conversation. Currently, most speech recognition systems focus on SAE, leading to higher error rates when transcribing other dialects like AAVE. It's crucial for companies in the speech recognition space to improve accuracy for diverse dialects and embrace the full spectrum of human speech.