{"id":203,"date":"2026-10-15T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/?p=203"},"modified":"2026-10-11T15:22:02","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T09:52:02","slug":"indic-speech-data-collection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/indic-speech-data-collection\/","title":{"rendered":"Indic Speech Data Collection: A Buyer\u2019s Guide to Hindi, Hinglish and Indian-Language Voice Data"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Last updat\u00aded: Octo\u00adber 2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group key-takeaways\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key takeaways<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Indic speech data col\u00adlec\u00adtion<\/strong> is the con\u00adsent\u00aded record\u00ading, tran\u00adscrip\u00adtion and label\u00ading of speech in Indi\u00adan lan\u00adguages, Hing\u00adlish and Indi\u00adan-accent\u00aded Eng\u00adlish for train\u00ading and test\u00ading speech AI.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Choose the data type by use case: script\u00aded read speech for base\u00adlines and TTS, spon\u00adta\u00adneous and two-speak\u00ader con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adtions for voice agents, and nat\u00adur\u00adal code-switched audio for urban users.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Plan cov\u00ader\u00adage below the lan\u00adguage lev\u00adel. A \u201cHin\u00addi\u201d quo\u00adta with no dialect, region, age, gen\u00adder, device and noise tar\u00adgets will miss the speak\u00aders your prod\u00aduct actu\u00adal\u00adly serves.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fix the Hing\u00adlish tran\u00adscrip\u00adtion con\u00adven\u00adtion (script choice plus lan\u00adguage-span tags) in writ\u00ading before record\u00ading starts. Chang\u00ading it lat\u00ader means re-tran\u00adscrib\u00ading.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Con\u00adsent has to be explic\u00adit, pur\u00adpose-spe\u00adcif\u00adic and with\u00addraw\u00adable. Indi\u00ada\u2019s DPDP Act 2023 and Rules 2025 are phas\u00ading in through 2027, and GDPR applies to speak\u00aders in the EU.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Voice prod\u00aducts for India fail in pre\u00addictable places: a caller switch\u00ades from Hin\u00addi to Eng\u00adlish mid-sen\u00adtence, an accent from east\u00adern Uttar Pradesh trips the rec\u00adog\u00adniz\u00ader, or an agent built on clean stu\u00addio audio meets a noisy two-wheel\u00ader street. Indic speech data col\u00adlec\u00adtion is how you close those gaps on pur\u00adpose instead of by acci\u00addent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This guide is for ASR, TTS and voice-agent teams buy\u00ading Hin\u00addi, Hing\u00adlish and Indi\u00adan-lan\u00adguage voice data. It cov\u00aders data types, dialect and demo\u00adgraph\u00adic sam\u00adpling, code-switch\u00ading tran\u00adscrip\u00adtion, con\u00adsent under Indi\u00ada\u2019s DPDP Act, cost dri\u00advers and a ven\u00addor score\u00adcard you can use in your next RFP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Scop\u00ading an Indic voice dataset?<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/contact-us\">Request a free 30-minute sam\u00adple set in your tar\u00adget lan\u00adguage<\/a> or book a 20-minute scop\u00ading call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is Indic speech data collection?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Indic speech data col\u00adlec\u00adtion is the process of recruit\u00ading con\u00adsent\u00ading speak\u00aders of Indi\u00adan lan\u00adguages, record\u00ading them to a defined spec\u00adi\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion, and tran\u00adscrib\u00ading and label\u00ading the audio so it can train or eval\u00adu\u00adate speech mod\u00adels.<\/strong> It cov\u00aders the 22 sched\u00aduled lan\u00adguages, region\u00adal dialects, Hing\u00adlish and oth\u00ader code-switched speech, and Indi\u00adan-accent\u00aded Eng\u00adlish, deliv\u00adered with speak\u00ader and record\u00ading meta\u00adda\u00adta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The work sits between lin\u00adguis\u00adtics and oper\u00ada\u00adtions. A dataset is only use\u00adful if the right peo\u00adple are speak\u00ading, the audio match\u00ades your pro\u00adduc\u00adt\u2019s chan\u00adnel, the tran\u00adscripts fol\u00adlow one con\u00adven\u00adtion, and every file has a con\u00adsent record behind it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Three things make India hard\u00ader than most mar\u00adkets:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Scale of vari\u00ada\u00adtion.<\/strong> The Con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u2019s Eighth Sched\u00adule lists 22 lan\u00adguages, from Assamese to Dogri, per the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mha.gov.in\/sites\/default\/files\/EighthSchedule_19052017.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Min\u00adistry of Home Affairs<\/a>. Each has region\u00adal vari\u00adeties that a sin\u00adgle \u201clan\u00adguage\u201d label hides.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Every\u00adday code-switch\u00ading.<\/strong> Urban speak\u00aders mix Hin\u00addi and Eng\u00adlish (Hing\u00adlish), or Tamil and Eng\u00adlish, with\u00adin one sen\u00adtence. Mod\u00adels trained on mono\u00adlin\u00adgual audio strug\u00adgle with it.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Script choic\u00ades.<\/strong> The same spo\u00adken sen\u00adtence can be writ\u00adten in Devana\u00adgari, in Roman script or in a mix. Your tran\u00adscripts must pick one con\u00adven\u00adtion and hold to it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>In short:<\/em> Indic speech data is con\u00adsent\u00aded audio plus tran\u00adscripts plus meta\u00adda\u00adta, built to a spec that reflects how your users actu\u00adal\u00adly speak. If you\u2019re new to the idea of train\u00ading data in gen\u00ader\u00adal, our explain\u00ader on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/what-is-training-data\/\">what train\u00ading data is and how it shapes a mod\u00adel<\/a> cov\u00aders the basics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Which types of Indic speech data do you need?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Most teams need a mix of five or six data types. Script\u00aded read speech gives clean, con\u00adtrolled cov\u00ader\u00adage for base\u00adlines and TTS. Spon\u00adta\u00adneous and two-speak\u00ader con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adtion\u00adal speech reflects real usage for ASR and voice agents. Wake words, com\u00admands and nat\u00adur\u00adal Hing\u00adlish cov\u00ader prod\u00aduct-spe\u00adcif\u00adic behav\u00adior. Indi\u00adan-accent\u00aded Eng\u00adlish sup\u00adports agents serv\u00ading Eng\u00adlish-first callers.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pick types based on what the mod\u00adel will hear in pro\u00adduc\u00adtion, not on what\u2019s eas\u00adi\u00adest to col\u00adlect. Here\u2019s how they map to use cas\u00ades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"892\" src=\"https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/indic-speech-data-types-table.webp\" alt=\"Table of six Indic speech data types (scripted read, spontaneous, two-speaker conversational, wake words, Hinglish code-switched and Indian accent English) with their main use cases and collection notes\" class=\"wp-image-200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/indic-speech-data-types-table.webp 1600w, https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/indic-speech-data-types-table-300x167.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/indic-speech-data-types-table-1024x571.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/indic-speech-data-types-table-768x428.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/indic-speech-data-types-table-1536x856.webp 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The six com\u00admon Indic speech data types and what each one is best for.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><thead><tr><th>Data type<\/th><th>Main use cas\u00ades<\/th><th>Col\u00adlec\u00adtion notes<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Script\u00aded read speech<\/strong><\/td><td>ASR base\u00adlines, TTS voic\u00ades, pro\u00adnun\u00adci\u00ada\u00adtion cov\u00ader\u00adage<\/td><td>Pho\u00adnet\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly bal\u00adanced prompts in native script. Check read\u00ading flu\u00aden\u00adcy. TTS usu\u00adal\u00adly needs stu\u00addio-grade audio from a small set of voic\u00ades.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Spon\u00adta\u00adneous (extem\u00adpore) speech<\/strong><\/td><td>ASR for real-world speech, speech mod\u00adel pre\u00adtrain\u00ading<\/td><td>Top\u00adic or pic\u00adture prompts pro\u00adduce nat\u00adur\u00adal paus\u00ades, fillers and restarts. Tran\u00adscrip\u00adtion takes longer than for read speech.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Two-speak\u00ader con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adtion\u00adal (call-cen\u00adtre style)<\/strong><\/td><td>Voice agents, con\u00adtact-cen\u00adtre ASR, diariza\u00adtion, speak\u00ader ID<\/td><td>Role-played sce\u00adnar\u00adios such as bank\u00ading, tele\u00adcom or deliv\u00adery. Record each speak\u00ader on a sep\u00ada\u00adrate chan\u00adnel. Use fic\u00adtion\u00adal account details, nev\u00ader real ones.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Wake words and com\u00admands<\/strong><\/td><td>On-device key\u00adword spot\u00adting, IVR, assis\u00adtants<\/td><td>Many speak\u00aders say\u00ading a few phras\u00ades, across dis\u00adtances, devices and noise. Include near-miss neg\u00ada\u00adtives.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Code-switched Hing\u00adlish<\/strong><\/td><td>Voice agents and ASR for urban users<\/td><td>Elic\u00adit nat\u00adur\u00adal mix\u00ading through sce\u00adnar\u00adios rather than forc\u00ading Eng\u00adlish words into scripts. Agree the script and tag\u00adging con\u00adven\u00adtion first.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Indi\u00adan-accent\u00aded Eng\u00adlish<\/strong><\/td><td>Voice agents, glob\u00adal ASR fine-tun\u00ading, accent eval\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion<\/td><td>Record each speak\u00ader\u2019s first lan\u00adguage and home region as meta\u00adda\u00adta, so accent groups can be bal\u00adanced and test\u00aded.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why voice agents need conversational, not just read, data<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A voice agent has to han\u00addle turn-tak\u00ading, inter\u00adrup\u00adtions, hes\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtions, and callers who restate a request three ways. Read speech con\u00adtains none of that. The IndicVoic\u00ades project from AI4Bharat made the same choice for its open cor\u00adpus: of its 7,348 hours, 9% was read, 74% extem\u00adpore and 17% con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adtion\u00adal, accord\u00ading to the <a href=\"https:\/\/aclanthology.org\/2024.findings-acl.639\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">IndicVoic\u00ades paper (ACL Find\u00adings 2024)<\/a>. For agent work, weight your bud\u00adget toward the last two cat\u00ade\u00adgories, and ask for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/voice-speech\">con\u00adsent-backed con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adtion\u00adal speech data<\/a> record\u00aded on the chan\u00adnel your agent will use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Indian accent English speech data<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many Indi\u00adan callers start in Eng\u00adlish, then switch. Indi\u00adan accent Eng\u00adlish speech data should be sam\u00adpled by first lan\u00adguage (a Tamil speak\u00ader\u2019s Eng\u00adlish dif\u00adfers from a Pun\u00adjabi speak\u00ader\u2019s) and by region, not treat\u00aded as one accent. Include domain vocab\u00adu\u00adlary your agent will hear: prod\u00aduct names, Indi\u00adan place names, and amounts said in lakh and crore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How do you plan language and dialect coverage?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Plan cov\u00ader\u00adage in lay\u00aders: pick lan\u00adguages from your user base, then set quo\u00adtas inside each lan\u00adguage for dialect or region, age, gen\u00adder, device and record\u00ading envi\u00adron\u00adment. Write the quo\u00adtas as tar\u00adgets with tol\u00ader\u00adances, track them per batch, and cap min\u00adutes per speak\u00ader so a few voic\u00ades don\u2019t dom\u00adi\u00adnate the dataset.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Start with the offi\u00adcial pic\u00adture. The Eighth Sched\u00adule\u2019s 22 lan\u00adguages are Assamese, Ben\u00adgali, Gujarati, Hin\u00addi, Kan\u00adna\u00adda, Kash\u00admiri, Konkani, Malay\u00adalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Pun\u00adjabi, San\u00adskrit, Sind\u00adhi, Tamil, Tel\u00adugu, Urdu, Bodo, San\u00adthali, Maith\u00adili and Dogri. The list was last expand\u00aded in 2004, per the MHA doc\u00adu\u00adment cit\u00aded above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then look under\u00adneath the labels. The <a href=\"https:\/\/censusindia.gov.in\/nada\/index.php\/catalog\/42458\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cen\u00adsus of India 2011 lan\u00adguage report (Paper 1 of 2018)<\/a> start\u00aded from 19,569 raw moth\u00ader-tongue returns and ratio\u00adnal\u00adized them into 121 lan\u00adguages and 270 moth\u00ader tongues with 10,000 or more speak\u00aders. The \u201cHin\u00addi\u201d group\u00ading alone, at 43.63% of the pop\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion, includes moth\u00ader tongues such as Bho\u00adjpuri, Rajasthani, Chhat\u00adtis\u00adgarhi and Awad\u00adhi. A Hin\u00addi speech dataset record\u00aded only in Del\u00adhi will under-serve a large share of peo\u00adple the cen\u00adsus counts as Hin\u00addi speak\u00aders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sampling quota planner<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><thead><tr><th>Dimen\u00adsion<\/th><th>What to spec\u00adi\u00adfy<\/th><th>Exam\u00adple plan\u00adning choice<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Dialect or region<\/strong><\/td><td>States, dis\u00adtricts or named vari\u00adeties per lan\u00adguage<\/td><td>Hin\u00addi split across west\u00adern UP, Bihar (Bho\u00adjpuri-influ\u00adenced), Rajasthan and Mad\u00adhya Pradesh<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Age<\/strong><\/td><td>Age bands and min\u00adi\u00admum share per band<\/td><td>18\u201325, 26\u201340, 41\u201360, 60+. Minors only with ver\u00adi\u00adfi\u00adable guardian con\u00adsent.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Gen\u00adder<\/strong><\/td><td>Tar\u00adget split with a tol\u00ader\u00adance<\/td><td>Rough\u00adly bal\u00adanced, with a tol\u00ader\u00adance band agreed per batch<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Device and chan\u00adnel<\/strong><\/td><td>Phone tiers, tele\u00adpho\u00adny, head\u00adset, far-field<\/td><td>Mix of bud\u00adget and mid-range Android phones plus 8 kHz tele\u00adpho\u00adny for agent work<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Envi\u00adron\u00adment<\/strong><\/td><td>Noise con\u00addi\u00adtions and their shares<\/td><td>Qui\u00adet room, home with TV, street, vehi\u00adcle, open office<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Speak\u00ader cap<\/strong><\/td><td>Max\u00adi\u00admum audio per speak\u00ader<\/td><td>A per-speak\u00ader minute cap so no voice dom\u00adi\u00adnates<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Lit\u00ader\u00ada\u00adcy<\/strong><\/td><td>Whether read tasks are required<\/td><td>Read tasks need flu\u00adent read\u00aders. Spon\u00adta\u00adneous tasks let you include speak\u00aders who don\u2019t read the script.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two prac\u00adti\u00adcal rules. First, decide which dimen\u00adsions are hard quo\u00adtas (must hit) and which are soft (best effort). Hard-to-reach groups, such as speak\u00aders over 60 in rur\u00adal dis\u00adtricts, take longer and cost more, so mark them ear\u00adly. Sec\u00adond, keep a held-out test set with its own speak\u00aders. If the same voice appears in train\u00ading and test, your eval\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion num\u00adbers will look bet\u00adter than real\u00adi\u00adty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How should Hinglish and code-switching speech data be transcribed?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Choose one script con\u00adven\u00adtion (mixed script, full Devana\u00adgari or full Roman), doc\u00adu\u00adment it with exam\u00adples, and tag the lan\u00adguage of each word or span. Add rules for loan\u00adwords, num\u00adbers, named enti\u00adties and fillers. Apply one Uni\u00adcode nor\u00admal\u00adiza\u00adtion form. Then audit every batch against the guide\u00adline, because code-switched tran\u00adscripts drift fast.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Code-switch\u00ading speech data is where most Indic projects lose con\u00adsis\u00adten\u00adcy. Take one spo\u00adken sen\u00adtence, \u201ckal ki meet\u00ading resched\u00adule kar do\u201d (\u201cresched\u00adule tomor\u00adrow\u2019s meet\u00ading\u201d). It can be writ\u00adten three valid ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><thead><tr><th>Con\u00adven\u00adtion<\/th><th>Exam\u00adple<\/th><th>Works well for<\/th><th>Watch-outs<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Mixed script<\/strong><\/td><td>\u0915\u0932 \u0915\u0940 meet\u00ading resched\u00adule \u0915\u0930 \u0926\u094b<\/td><td>ASR that out\u00adputs native script with word-lev\u00adel lan\u00adguage ID<\/td><td>Needs a rule for assim\u00adi\u00adlat\u00aded loan\u00adwords (\u091f\u094d\u0930\u0947\u0928 or train?)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Full Devana\u00adgari<\/strong><\/td><td>\u0915\u0932 \u0915\u0940 \u092e\u0940\u091f\u093f\u0902\u0917 \u0930\u0940\u0936\u0947\u0921\u094d\u092f\u0942\u0932 \u0915\u0930 \u0926\u094b<\/td><td>Hin\u00addi-first ASR and TTS front ends<\/td><td>Eng\u00adlish words get many Devana\u00adgari spellings. A spelling lex\u00adi\u00adcon is essen\u00adtial.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Full Roman<\/strong><\/td><td>kal ki meet\u00ading resched\u00adule kar do<\/td><td>Chat-style NLU that match\u00ades how users type<\/td><td>No sin\u00adgle stan\u00addard (\u201ckar do\u201d or \u201ckar\u00addo\u201d). Spelling must be fixed by lex\u00adi\u00adcon.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">None of these is \u201ccor\u00adrect\u201d in the abstract. The right choice is the one that match\u00ades your mod\u00adel\u2019s out\u00adput and down\u00adstream use. What mat\u00adters is that every tran\u00adscriber makes the same choice for the same word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tagging language spans<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Script alone does\u00adn\u2019t tell you the lan\u00adguage. \u201cPhone\u201d writ\u00adten in Devana\u00adgari is still an Eng\u00adlish-ori\u00adgin word. So most code-switched specs add explic\u00adit lan\u00adguage tags, at one of two lev\u00adels:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Word lev\u00adel:<\/strong> \u0915\u0932\/hi \u0915\u0940\/hi meeting\/en reschedule\/en \u0915\u0930\/hi \u0926\u094b\/hi. This gives the most detail and sup\u00adports lan\u00adguage-ID train\u00ading.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Span lev\u00adel:<\/strong> mark each con\u00adtin\u00adu\u00adous run of one lan\u00adguage. It\u2019s faster to anno\u00adtate and enough for many ASR tasks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Your guide\u00adline should also set\u00adtle these points before tran\u00adscrip\u00adtion starts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Loan\u00adword list.<\/strong> Which Eng\u00adlish-ori\u00adgin words count as assim\u00adi\u00adlat\u00aded Hin\u00addi (often \u201ctrain\u201d, \u201cbus\u201d, \u201cphone\u201d), and which get tagged as Eng\u00adlish.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Num\u00adbers and amounts.<\/strong> Spo\u00adken form (\u201cdo baje\u201d, \u201cpaanch lakh\u201d) or dig\u00adits. ASR train\u00ading usu\u00adal\u00adly needs the spo\u00adken form.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Named enti\u00adties.<\/strong> Brand, per\u00adson and place names, with a fixed spelling list.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Fillers and dis\u00adflu\u00aden\u00adcies.<\/strong> Whether \u201cmat\u00adlab\u201d, \u201chaan\u201d and false starts are kept, and how they\u2019re marked.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Nor\u00admal\u00adiza\u00adtion.<\/strong> One Uni\u00adcode nor\u00admal\u00adiza\u00adtion form for all files, and a con\u00adsis\u00adtent nuk\u00adta pol\u00adi\u00adcy (for exam\u00adple, \u091c\u093c ver\u00adsus \u091c), so iden\u00adti\u00adcal words don\u2019t become dif\u00adfer\u00adent tokens.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Roman\u00adiza\u00adtion scheme.<\/strong> If you use Roman script, say whether it is infor\u00admal \u201cchat\u201d spelling or a for\u00admal scheme such as ISO 15919.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The same log\u00adic applies to Tang\u00adlish (Tamil-Eng\u00adlish), Beng\u00adlish and oth\u00ader pairs, and to Urdu, which uses Per\u00adso-Ara\u00adbic script while shar\u00ading much of its spo\u00adken base with Hin\u00addi. For more on how tran\u00adscripts feed recog\u00adni\u00adtion mod\u00adels, see our guide to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/ai-transcription\/\">AI tran\u00adscrip\u00adtion, accu\u00adra\u00adcy and WER<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What consent and compliance does Indic voice data need?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Every speak\u00ader should give explic\u00adit, informed con\u00adsent in a lan\u00adguage they under\u00adstand, for named pur\u00adpos\u00ades such as ASR train\u00ading or syn\u00adthet\u00adic voice cre\u00adation, with an easy way to with\u00addraw. In India this aligns with the DPDP Act 2023. For speak\u00aders in the EU, GDPR applies, and voice used to iden\u00adti\u00adfy peo\u00adple can be spe\u00adcial-cat\u00ade\u00adgo\u00adry bio\u00admet\u00adric data.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Con\u00adsent\u00aded voice data for AI is more than a signed form. It\u2019s a chain of evi\u00addence link\u00ading each audio file to a spe\u00adcif\u00adic per\u00adson\u00ad\u2019s informed agree\u00adment for a spe\u00adcif\u00adic use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">India: DPDP Act 2023 and DPDP Rules 2025<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meity.gov.in\/static\/uploads\/2024\/06\/2bf1f0e9f04e6fb4f8fef35e82c42aa5.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dig\u00adi\u00adtal Per\u00adson\u00adal Data Pro\u00adtec\u00adtion Act, 2023<\/a> (No. 22 of 2023) requires that con\u00adsent be \u201cfree, spe\u00adcif\u00adic, informed, uncon\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal and unam\u00adbigu\u00adous with a clear affir\u00adma\u00adtive action\u201d (Sec\u00adtion 6). It also requires that with\u00addraw\u00ading con\u00adsent be as easy as giv\u00ading it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The DPDP Rules, 2025 were pub\u00adlished as G.S.R. 846(E), dat\u00aded 13 Novem\u00adber 2025, and announced by MeitY the next day. They com\u00admence in phas\u00ades. As of Octo\u00adber 2026, per the Rules\u2019 com\u00admence\u00adment clause:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Rules 1, 2 and 17 to 21 (def\u00adi\u00adn\u00adi\u00adtions and the Data Pro\u00adtec\u00adtion Board) took effect on pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtion.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Rule 4 (con\u00adsent man\u00adagers) takes effect one year after pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtion, in Novem\u00adber 2026.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Rules 3, 5 to 16, 22 and 23 (includ\u00ading notice, secu\u00adri\u00adty safe\u00adguards, breach report\u00ading and chil\u00addren\u2019s data) take effect eigh\u00adteen months after pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtion, around May 2027.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Indus\u00adtry reports in 2026 said MeitY had con\u00adsult\u00aded on short\u00aden\u00ading parts of this time\u00adline. Check the cur\u00adrent noti\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion before you final\u00adize your com\u00adpli\u00adance plan. Either way, build to the 2027 stan\u00addard now. Datasets you col\u00adlect today will still be in use when the full rules apply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">EU speakers: GDPR<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you record speak\u00aders locat\u00aded in the EU, the GDPR is like\u00adly to apply. Treat voice record\u00adings as per\u00adson\u00adal data. Where voice is processed to unique\u00adly iden\u00adti\u00adfy some\u00adone (speak\u00ader ID or voice bio\u00admet\u00adrics), it becomes bio\u00admet\u00adric data under Arti\u00adcle 9\u2019s spe\u00adcial cat\u00ade\u00adgories. Pro\u00adcess\u00ading it is then pro\u00adhib\u00adit\u00aded unless an excep\u00adtion applies, and for data col\u00adlec\u00adtion that excep\u00adtion is usu\u00adal\u00adly explic\u00adit con\u00adsent. Take legal advice on your spe\u00adcif\u00adic set\u00adup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What a consent record should hold<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Pseu\u00addo\u00adny\u00admous par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpant ID linked to every file they con\u00adtributed<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The notice shown, its ver\u00adsion and its lan\u00adguage<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Each pur\u00adpose con\u00adsent\u00aded to, as sep\u00ada\u00adrate items (ASR train\u00ading, eval\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion, TTS, voice cloning)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Who will receive the data, and how long it will be retained<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How the par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpant can with\u00addraw, and what hap\u00adpens to their files if they do<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Time\u00adstamp and form of the affir\u00adma\u00adtive action<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Guardian details and ver\u00adi\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion for any minor<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Pur\u00adpose lim\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtion in prac\u00adtice:<\/strong> con\u00adsent to \u201cspeech recog\u00adni\u00adtion research\u201d does\u00adn\u2019t cov\u00ader cloning some\u00adone\u2019s voice. If TTS or syn\u00adthet\u00adic voice is in scope, ask for it as a sep\u00ada\u00adrate, clear\u00adly explained opt-in. Also keep per\u00adson\u00adal data out of the audio. Use fic\u00adtion\u00adal names and account num\u00adbers in role-plays, and redact any per\u00adson\u00adal details that come up in spon\u00adta\u00adneous speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How does an Indic speech data collection project run?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A well-run project moves through six stages: a writ\u00adten spec\u00adi\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion, speak\u00ader recruit\u00adment with con\u00adsent, man\u00adaged record\u00ading, tran\u00adscrip\u00adtion and anno\u00adta\u00adtion, qual\u00adi\u00adty assur\u00adance, and deliv\u00adery with full meta\u00adda\u00adta. A short pilot through all six stages, in one lan\u00adguage, catch\u00ades most prob\u00adlems before you com\u00admit to full vol\u00adume.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/indic-speech-data-collection-process.webp\" alt=\"Six-step Indic speech data collection process: specification, speaker recruitment and consent, recording management, transcription and annotation, QA, and delivery with metadata\" class=\"wp-image-199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/indic-speech-data-collection-process.webp 1600w, https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/indic-speech-data-collection-process-300x169.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/indic-speech-data-collection-process-1024x576.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/indic-speech-data-collection-process-768x432.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/indic-speech-data-collection-process-1536x864.webp 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The six stages of an Indic speech data col\u00adlec\u00adtion project, from spec to deliv\u00adery.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Spec\u00adi\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion.<\/strong> Lan\u00adguages, hours, data types, quo\u00adtas, audio for\u00admat (for exam\u00adple, 16 kHz 16-bit mono WAV for ASR, 8 kHz for tele\u00adpho\u00adny, 48 kHz for TTS), the tran\u00adscrip\u00adtion con\u00adven\u00adtion and the accep\u00adtance cri\u00adte\u00adria.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Speak\u00ader recruit\u00adment and con\u00adsent.<\/strong> Native-speak\u00ader recruiters source par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpants against the quo\u00adtas. Each per\u00adson gets the notice in their lan\u00adguage, gives con\u00adsent per pur\u00adpose, and is screened for lan\u00adguage flu\u00aden\u00adcy and dupli\u00adcate enroll\u00adment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Record\u00ading man\u00adage\u00adment.<\/strong> Prompts and sce\u00adnar\u00adios are served through a record\u00ading app or call set\u00adup. Auto\u00admat\u00adic checks flag clip\u00adping, silence, wrong sam\u00adple rate and back\u00adground noise at cap\u00adture time, so speak\u00aders can re-record on the spot.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Tran\u00adscrip\u00adtion and anno\u00adta\u00adtion.<\/strong> Native-speak\u00ader tran\u00adscribers fol\u00adlow the writ\u00adten guide\u00adline: script con\u00adven\u00adtion, lan\u00adguage tags, time\u00adstamps, speak\u00ader turns, and noise and event tags. Our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/transcription\">audio tran\u00adscrip\u00adtion ser\u00advices<\/a> page cov\u00aders the ver\u00adba\u00adtim and time-aligned options.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Qual\u00adi\u00adty assur\u00adance.<\/strong> A sec\u00adond review\u00ader audits a sam\u00adple (or every file, for eval\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion sets), with errors logged by type. Batch\u00ades below the agreed thresh\u00adold go back for rework.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Deliv\u00adery with meta\u00adda\u00adta.<\/strong> Audio, tran\u00adscripts and a man\u00adi\u00adfest with speak\u00ader ID, lan\u00adguage, dialect or region, age band, gen\u00adder, device, envi\u00adron\u00adment and con\u00adsent ref\u00ader\u00adence for each file.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How much does speech data collection cost per hour?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Speech data col\u00adlec\u00adtion cost per hour depends on lan\u00adguage rar\u00adi\u00adty, how spon\u00adta\u00adneous the speech is, unique speak\u00aders per hour, audio spec, record\u00ading envi\u00adron\u00adment, tran\u00adscrip\u00adtion depth, QA lev\u00adel and licens\u00ading terms. Read speech in a wide\u00adly spo\u00adken lan\u00adguage with light tran\u00adscrip\u00adtion sits at the low end. Exclu\u00adsive con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adtion\u00adal data in a rare dialect sits at the high end.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead of trust\u00ading a sin\u00adgle per-hour fig\u00adure, ask any ven\u00addor to price against your spec and to show how each dri\u00adver below moves the num\u00adber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><thead><tr><th>Cost dri\u00adver<\/th><th>Push\u00ades cost down<\/th><th>Push\u00ades cost up<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Lan\u00adguage rar\u00adi\u00adty<\/strong><\/td><td>Hin\u00addi, Ben\u00adgali, Marathi, Tamil, Tel\u00adugu<\/td><td>Small\u00ader lan\u00adguages and named dialects with few avail\u00adable speak\u00aders<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Speech type<\/strong><\/td><td>Script\u00aded read speech<\/td><td>Spon\u00adta\u00adneous and two-speak\u00ader con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adtion, which take more set\u00adup and hard\u00ader tran\u00adscrip\u00adtion<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Speak\u00aders per hour<\/strong><\/td><td>Few\u00ader speak\u00aders record\u00ading longer ses\u00adsions<\/td><td>Many unique speak\u00aders, each con\u00adtribut\u00ading a few min\u00adutes<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Audio spec\u00adi\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion<\/strong><\/td><td>16 kHz mono on smart\u00adphones<\/td><td>48 kHz stu\u00addio cap\u00adture, mul\u00adti-chan\u00adnel or far-field arrays<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Envi\u00adron\u00adment<\/strong><\/td><td>Speak\u00aders\u2019 own homes, uncon\u00adtrolled<\/td><td>Stu\u00addio booths or spe\u00adcif\u00adic con\u00adtrolled noise con\u00addi\u00adtions<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Tran\u00adscrip\u00adtion depth<\/strong><\/td><td>Ortho\u00adgraph\u00adic tran\u00adscript only<\/td><td>Ver\u00adba\u00adtim with time\u00adstamps, lan\u00adguage-span tags, diariza\u00adtion and event labels<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>QA lev\u00adel<\/strong><\/td><td>Sam\u00adple-based audit<\/td><td>100% sec\u00adond-pass review and dou\u00adble tran\u00adscrip\u00adtion for test sets<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Demo\u00adgraph\u00adic quo\u00adtas<\/strong><\/td><td>Loose tar\u00adgets<\/td><td>Hard quo\u00adtas for hard-to-reach groups, such as rur\u00adal speak\u00aders over 60<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Licens\u00ading<\/strong><\/td><td>Non-exclu\u00adsive licence<\/td><td>Exclu\u00adsive rights or full own\u00ader\u00adship trans\u00adfer<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two levers usu\u00adal\u00adly save the most mon\u00adey with\u00adout hurt\u00ading qual\u00adi\u00adty. First, tran\u00adscribe only what you\u2019ll train on. Spon\u00adta\u00adneous audio can be col\u00adlect\u00aded at vol\u00adume and tran\u00adscribed in phas\u00ades. Sec\u00adond, sep\u00ada\u00adrate the eval\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion set. Spend on 100% QA for a small\u00ader, care\u00adful\u00adly bal\u00adanced test set, and use sam\u00adple-based QA for bulk train\u00ading data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to choose an Indic speech data vendor: an 8\u2011point scorecard<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Score each ven\u00addor from 0 to 2 on eight checks: a real sam\u00adple in your lan\u00adguage, con\u00adsent arte\u00adfacts, speak\u00ader prove\u00adnance, quo\u00adta report\u00ading, a writ\u00adten tran\u00adscrip\u00adtion guide\u00adline, mea\u00adsur\u00adable QA, audio spec checks and clear licens\u00ading. A score of 14 to 16 means ready to pilot. 10 to 13 means pilot with con\u00addi\u00adtions. Below 10, keep look\u00ading.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"818\" src=\"https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/indic-speech-vendor-checklist.webp\" alt=\"Eight-point Indic speech data vendor scorecard: sample in your language, consent artefacts, speaker provenance, quota reporting, transcription guideline, measurable QA, audio spec checks and licensing terms\" class=\"wp-image-201\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/indic-speech-vendor-checklist.webp 1600w, https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/indic-speech-vendor-checklist-300x153.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/indic-speech-vendor-checklist-1024x524.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/indic-speech-vendor-checklist-768x393.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/indic-speech-vendor-checklist-1536x785.webp 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The 8\u2011point score\u00adcard for com\u00adpar\u00ading Indic speech data ven\u00addors. Score each check 0, 1 or 2.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Sam\u00adple in your lan\u00adguage.<\/strong> A real sam\u00adple set in your tar\u00adget lan\u00adguage and data type, with tran\u00adscripts and a meta\u00adda\u00adta man\u00adi\u00adfest. Not a gener\u00adic demo reel.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Con\u00adsent arte\u00adfacts.<\/strong> The par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpant notice in the local lan\u00adguage, the per-pur\u00adpose con\u00adsent screen, the with\u00addraw\u00adal process, and con\u00adsent records linked to file IDs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Speak\u00ader prove\u00adnance.<\/strong> Real, unique speak\u00aders with dupli\u00adcate checks. Any syn\u00adthet\u00adic or aug\u00adment\u00aded audio is dis\u00adclosed and labeled.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Quo\u00adta report\u00ading.<\/strong> Per-batch reports of actu\u00adal dialect, age, gen\u00adder, device and envi\u00adron\u00adment shares against your tar\u00adgets.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Writ\u00adten tran\u00adscrip\u00adtion guide\u00adline.<\/strong> Cov\u00aders script con\u00adven\u00adtion, lan\u00adguage tags, loan\u00adwords, num\u00adbers, fillers and nor\u00admal\u00adiza\u00adtion, with worked exam\u00adples.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Mea\u00adsur\u00adable QA.<\/strong> A defined met\u00adric (such as tran\u00adscript error rate on an audit\u00aded sam\u00adple), the sam\u00adple size, rejec\u00adtion rea\u00adsons and rework rules.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Audio spec checks.<\/strong> Auto\u00admat\u00aded checks for sam\u00adple rate, bit depth, clip\u00adping, silence, sig\u00adnal-to-noise and chan\u00adnel sep\u00ada\u00adra\u00adtion.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Licens\u00ading and data han\u00addling.<\/strong> Clear rights grant, exclu\u00adsiv\u00adi\u00adty terms, stor\u00adage loca\u00adtion, reten\u00adtion and dele\u00adtion, and any sub-proces\u00adsors.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Add one com\u00admer\u00adcial test on top: does the ven\u00addor invoice only for files that pass your accep\u00adtance cri\u00adte\u00adria? Pay\u00ading for accept\u00aded files keeps both sides focused on the same qual\u00adi\u00adty bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Want to run this score\u00adcard on us?<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/contact-us\">Request a free 30-minute sam\u00adple set in your tar\u00adget lan\u00adguage<\/a> and score it against your own spec, or scope a pilot billed only on approved files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Common mistakes in Indic speech data projects<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Treat\u00ading \u201cHin\u00addi\u201d as one accent.<\/strong> With\u00adout dialect and region quo\u00adtas, the dataset skews to who\u00adev\u00ader was eas\u00adi\u00adest to recruit.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Forc\u00ading code-switch\u00ading into scripts.<\/strong> Script\u00aded Hing\u00adlish sounds unnat\u00adur\u00adal. Use sce\u00adnar\u00adios that make peo\u00adple mix lan\u00adguages the way they nor\u00admal\u00adly do.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Stu\u00addio audio for a phone prod\u00aduct.<\/strong> If users call over tele\u00adpho\u00adny, record and test at tele\u00adpho\u00adny qual\u00adi\u00adty.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Chang\u00ading the tran\u00adscrip\u00adtion con\u00adven\u00adtion mid-project.<\/strong> It splits your data into incon\u00adsis\u00adtent halves. Lock it after the pilot.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Vague con\u00adsent.<\/strong> A sin\u00adgle \u201cAI research\u201d check\u00adbox won\u2019t cov\u00ader voice cloning or resale. Name each pur\u00adpose.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Speak\u00ader over\u00adlap between train\u00ading and test sets.<\/strong> It inflates eval\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion results and hides real-world errors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How Graveiens AI delivers Indic speech data<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Graveiens AI runs Indic voice projects on an explic\u00adit-con\u00adsent work\u00adflow: <strong>par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpant onboard\u00ading \u2192 record\u00ading man\u00adage\u00adment \u2192 meta\u00adda\u00adta tag\u00adging \u2192 QA<\/strong>. Every con\u00adtrib\u00adu\u00adtor is onboard\u00aded with con\u00adsent before record\u00ading, every file car\u00adries meta\u00adda\u00adta, and every batch pass\u00ades QA before deliv\u00adery. You\u2019re invoiced only for approved files, which keeps a first pilot low-risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Indic lan\u00adguages we cov\u00ader:<\/strong> Hin\u00addi, Urdu, Ben\u00adgali, Marathi, Gujarati, Pun\u00adjabi, Assamese, Tel\u00adugu, Tamil, Malay\u00adalam, Kan\u00adna\u00adda, Odia, Konkani and Nepali, plus Indi\u00adan Eng\u00adlish. These sit with\u00adin our wider cov\u00ader\u00adage of 25+ lan\u00adguages, and both script\u00aded and con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adtion\u00adal col\u00adlec\u00adtion are avail\u00adable on our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/voice-speech\">voice and speech data ser\u00advices<\/a> page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How a typ\u00adi\u00adcal engage\u00adment runs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Scop\u00ading.<\/strong> We turn your use case into a writ\u00adten spec cov\u00ader\u00ading data types, quo\u00adtas, audio for\u00admat, the code-switch\u00ading con\u00adven\u00adtion and accep\u00adtance cri\u00adte\u00adria. For any\u00adthing out\u00adside our stan\u00addard cat\u00ada\u00adlogue, we scope it with you.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Pilot.<\/strong> One lan\u00adguage and one data type, end to end, so you can check audio, tran\u00adscripts and meta\u00adda\u00adta against your spec before scal\u00ading.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Scale-up.<\/strong> Batch-wise deliv\u00adery with quo\u00adta report\u00ading, tran\u00adscrip\u00adtion by native speak\u00aders, and the same QA gate on every batch.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Lan\u00adguage sup\u00adport.<\/strong> Trans\u00adla\u00adtion, local\u00adiza\u00adtion of prompts and scripts, and sub\u00adti\u00adtling are avail\u00adable through our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/language-services\">lan\u00adguage and local\u00adiza\u00adtion ser\u00advices<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Graveiens AI is ISO 9001 cer\u00adti\u00adfied. We don\u2019t promise accu\u00adra\u00adcy gains for your mod\u00adel. That depends on your archi\u00adtec\u00adture and eval\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion. What we com\u00admit to is data that match\u00ades the spec you sign off.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"rank-math-faq\" class=\"rank-math-block\">\n<div class=\"rank-math-list \">\n<div id=\"faq-question-1760100000000\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">How many hours of Indic speech data do I need?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>It depends on whether you\u2019re train\u00ading from scratch, fine-tun\u00ading an exist\u00ading mul\u00adti\u00adlin\u00adgual mod\u00adel or only build\u00ading an eval\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion set. Fine-tun\u00ading usu\u00adal\u00adly needs far less than train\u00ading from scratch. For scale, the IndicVoic\u00ades paper report\u00aded a medi\u00adan of 73 tran\u00adscribed hours per lan\u00adguage in 2024. Start with a pilot, mea\u00adsure errors on a held-out test set, then add hours where the mod\u00adel is weak\u00adest.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-1760100000001\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">What is the difference between a Hindi speech dataset and a Hinglish speech dataset?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>A Hin\u00addi speech dataset is most\u00adly mono\u00adlin\u00adgual Hin\u00addi, often with a few estab\u00adlished Eng\u00adlish loan\u00adwords. A Hing\u00adlish speech dataset cap\u00adtures nat\u00adur\u00adal switch\u00ading between Hin\u00addi and Eng\u00adlish with\u00adin and across sen\u00adtences, the way many urban speak\u00aders talk. Hing\u00adlish data needs lan\u00adguage-span tags and a fixed script con\u00adven\u00adtion, and it\u2019s essen\u00adtial for voice agents serv\u00ading metro users.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-1760100000002\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">Should Hinglish be transcribed in Devanagari or Roman script?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>Either can work. Mixed script (Hin\u00addi in Devana\u00adgari, Eng\u00adlish in Roman) suits ASR with word-lev\u00adel lan\u00adguage ID. Full Devana\u00adgari suits Hin\u00addi-first sys\u00adtems. Full Roman match\u00ades how users type in chat. Pick the con\u00adven\u00adtion that match\u00ades your mod\u00adel\u2019s out\u00adput, doc\u00adu\u00adment it with exam\u00adples, and tag lan\u00adguage spans so the choice does\u00adn\u2019t erase which lan\u00adguage was spo\u00adken.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-1760100000003\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">Is consent required to collect voice data in India?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>Yes. A voice record\u00ading is per\u00adson\u00adal data, and Indi\u00ada\u2019s DPDP Act 2023 requires con\u00adsent that is free, spe\u00adcif\u00adic, informed, uncon\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal and unam\u00adbigu\u00adous, giv\u00aden through a clear affir\u00adma\u00adtive action and as easy to with\u00addraw as to give. The DPDP Rules 2025 phase in through 2027. Use per-pur\u00adpose con\u00adsent in the speak\u00ader\u2019s lan\u00adguage, with records linked to each file.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-1760100000004\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">What audio format should Indic speech data be delivered in?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>For most ASR work, 16 kHz, 16-bit, mono, uncom\u00adpressed WAV is a com\u00admon choice. For tele\u00adpho\u00adny or con\u00adtact-cen\u00adtre mod\u00adels, 8 kHz audio match\u00ades the pro\u00adduc\u00adtion chan\u00adnel. TTS voic\u00ades usu\u00adal\u00adly need 44.1 or 48 kHz stu\u00addio record\u00adings. For con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adtions, ask for sep\u00ada\u00adrate chan\u00adnels per speak\u00ader, and always get a man\u00adi\u00adfest with speak\u00ader and record\u00ading meta\u00adda\u00adta.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-1760100000005\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">Can I use IndicVoices or Mozilla Common Voice instead of custom collection?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>Pub\u00adlic datasets such as IndicVoic\u00ades, Mozil\u00adla Com\u00admon Voice and resources shared through Indi\u00ada\u2019s Bhashi\u00adni mis\u00adsion are use\u00adful for research, pre\u00adtrain\u00ading and bench\u00admark\u00ading. Before using one com\u00admer\u00adcial\u00adly, check its license terms. Also check whether its speak\u00aders, domains and record\u00ading con\u00addi\u00adtions match your prod\u00aduct. Most teams com\u00adbine pub\u00adlic data with cus\u00adtom col\u00adlec\u00adtion for their own domain, chan\u00adnel and code-switch\u00ading needs.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-1760100000006\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question \">What drives speech data collection cost per hour?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>The main dri\u00advers are lan\u00adguage rar\u00adi\u00adty, spon\u00adta\u00adneous ver\u00adsus read speech, the num\u00adber of unique speak\u00aders per hour, audio spec\u00adi\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion (16 or 48 kHz), record\u00ading envi\u00adron\u00adment, tran\u00adscrip\u00adtion depth, QA lev\u00adel, demo\u00adgraph\u00adic quo\u00adtas and licens\u00ading exclu\u00adsiv\u00adi\u00adty. Ask ven\u00addors to price against your writ\u00adten spec and show how each dri\u00adver changes the fig\u00adure, rather than quot\u00ading a flat rate.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group cta-box\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Request a free 30-minute sample set in your target language<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tell us your lan\u00adguage, data type and audio spec. We\u2019ll record and tran\u00adscribe a 30-minute sam\u00adple set, free of charge, for you to check against your own accep\u00adtance cri\u00adte\u00adria. If you go ahead, the pilot is billed only on approved files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/contact-us\"><strong>Request your free sam\u00adple set<\/strong><\/a> \u00b7 Ask us for the Indic speech scop\u00ading work\u00adsheet cov\u00ader\u00ading lan\u00adguage, quo\u00adta and con\u00adsent fields.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sources<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Min\u00adistry of Home Affairs, Gov\u00adern\u00adment of India. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mha.gov.in\/sites\/default\/files\/EighthSchedule_19052017.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lan\u00adguages includ\u00aded in the Eighth Sched\u00adule of the Con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Office of the Reg\u00adis\u00adtrar Gen\u00ader\u00adal and Cen\u00adsus Com\u00admis\u00adsion\u00ader, India. <a href=\"https:\/\/censusindia.gov.in\/nada\/index.php\/catalog\/42458\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lan\u00adguage (Paper 1 of 2018), Cen\u00adsus of India 2011<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Min\u00adistry of Law and Jus\u00adtice. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meity.gov.in\/static\/uploads\/2024\/06\/2bf1f0e9f04e6fb4f8fef35e82c42aa5.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Dig\u00adi\u00adtal Per\u00adson\u00adal Data Pro\u00adtec\u00adtion Act, 2023 (No. 22 of 2023)<\/a>, offi\u00adcial text host\u00aded by MeitY.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Javed et al. <a href=\"https:\/\/aclanthology.org\/2024.findings-acl.639\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">IndicVoic\u00ades: Towards build\u00ading an Inclu\u00adsive Mul\u00adti\u00adlin\u00adgual Speech Dataset for Indi\u00adan Lan\u00adguages<\/a>. Find\u00adings of ACL 2024.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Min\u00adistry of Elec\u00adtron\u00adics and Infor\u00adma\u00adtion Tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy. Dig\u00adi\u00adtal Per\u00adson\u00adal Data Pro\u00adtec\u00adtion Rules, 2025, G.S.R. 846(E), Gazette of India, 13 Novem\u00adber 2025 (pub\u00adlished on meity.gov.in).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Dig\u00adi\u00adtal India Cor\u00adpo\u00adra\u00adtion, MeitY. Bhashi\u00adni, Nation\u00adal Lan\u00adguage Trans\u00adla\u00adtion Mis\u00adsion (bhashini.gov.in).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group author-bio\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>About the author: Graveiens AI Edi\u00adto\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal Team.<\/strong> The Graveiens AI edi\u00adto\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal team writes from day-to-day expe\u00adri\u00adence run\u00adning con\u00adsent-backed voice data col\u00adlec\u00adtion, tran\u00adscrip\u00adtion and anno\u00adta\u00adtion pro\u00adgrams across Indic and glob\u00adal lan\u00adguages. The team cov\u00aders speech data spec\u00adi\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion, mul\u00adti\u00adlin\u00adgual sam\u00adpling, tran\u00adscrip\u00adtion con\u00adven\u00adtions and data com\u00adpli\u00adance for AI builders.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Indic speech data col\u00adlec\u00adtion explained: data types, Hing\u00adlish tran\u00adscrip\u00adtion, dialect quo\u00adtas, DPDP con\u00adsent and cost dri\u00advers. Request a sam\u00adple set.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":198,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[9,13,11,12,14],"class_list":["post-203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-voice-speech-data","tag-data-consent","tag-hinglish","tag-indic-languages","tag-speech-data-collection","tag-voice-ai"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":205,"href":"https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203\/revisions\/205"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.graveiensai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}