A Speech Corpus for Dyslexic Reading Training

Abstract

Traditional Danish reading training for dyslexic readers typically involves the presence of a professional reading therapist for guidance, advice and evaluation. Allowing dyslexic readers to train their reading skills on their own could not only benefit the dyslexics themselves in terms of increased flexibility but could also allow professional therapists to increase the amount of dyslexic readers to whom they have a professional contact. It is envisioned that an automated reading training tool operating on the basis of ASR could provide dyslexic users with such independence. However, only limited experience in handling dyslexic input (in Danish) by a speech recognizer exists currently. This paper reports on the establishment of a speech corpus of Danish dyslexic speech along with an annotation hereof and the setup of a proof-of-concept training tool allowing dyslexic users to improve their reading skills on their own. Despite relatively limited ASR performance, a usability evaluation by dyslexic users shows an unconditional belief in the fairness of the system and indicates furthermore willingness for using such a training tool.

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