An in-ear speech database in varying conditions of the audio-phonation loop

With the rise of hearables and the advantages of using in-ear microphones with intra-aural devices, accessibility to an in-ear speech database in adverse conditions is essential. Speech captured inside the occluded ear is limited in its frequency bandwidth and has an amplified low frequency content. In addition, occluding the ear canal affects speech production, especially in noisy environments. These changes to speech production have a detrimental effect on speech-based algorithms. Yet, to the authors' knowledge, there are no speech databases that account for these changes. This paper presents a speech-in-ear database, of speech captured inside an occluded ear in noise and in quiet. The database is bilingual (in French and in English) and is intended to aid researchers in developing algorithms for intra-aural devices utilizing in-ear microphones.