spoken language is central to human communication and has significant links to both national identity and individual existence. the structure of spoken language is shaped by many factors. it is structured by the phonological, syntactic and prosodic structure of the language being spoken, by the acoustic enviroment and context in which it is produced---e.g., people speak differently in noisy or quiet environments---and the communication channel through which it travels.
speech is produced differently by each speaker. each utterance is produced by a unique vocal tract which assigns its own signature to the signal. speakers of the same language have different dialects, accents and speaking rates. their speech patterns are influenced by the physical environment, social context, the perceived social status of the participants, and their emotional and physical state.
large amounts of annotated speech data are needed to model the affects of these...