SilencioNetwork/igbo-speech

---
license: cc-by-nc-4.0
language:
- ig
task_categories:
- automatic-speech-recognition
- text-to-speech
tags:
- igbo
- nigerian-languages
- west-africa
- nigeria
- african-languages
- low-resource
- speech-data
- voice-ai
- asr
- tts
pretty_name: "Igbo Speech Dataset"
dataset_info:
features:
- name: file_name
dtype: string
- name: id
dtype: int64
- name: gender
dtype: string
- name: ethnicity
dtype: string
- name: occupation
dtype: string
- name: birth_place
dtype: string
- name: mother_tongue
dtype: string
- name: dialect
dtype: string
- name: year_of_birth
dtype: int64
- name: years_at_birth_place
dtype: int64
- name: languages_data
dtype: string
- name: os
dtype: string
- name: device
dtype: string
- name: browser
dtype: string
- name: duration
dtype: float64
- name: emotions
dtype: string
- name: language
dtype: string
- name: location
dtype: string
- name: noise_sources
dtype: string
- name: script_id
dtype: int64
- name: type_of_script
dtype: string
- name: script
dtype: string
- name: transcript
dtype: string
- name: speaker_id
dtype: string
configs:
- config_name: igbo_nigeria
data_files:
- split: free_speech
path: igbo_nigeria/free_speech/**
size_categories:
- n<1K
---

# Igbo Speech Dataset

**The most comprehensive Igbo speech dataset on HuggingFace - natural, real-world Igbo from native speakers across Southeast Nigeria and the diaspora.**

## Dataset Overview

- **Total audio samples**: 36 recordings
- **Total duration**: ~22 minutes
- **Primary region**: Nigeria (Owerri, Southeast Nigeria)
- **Context**: Natural spontaneous speech (free_speech)
- **Audio format**: WAV files
- **Sample rate**: 48 kHz
- **License**: CC BY-NC 4.0 (free for research, non-commercial use)

## Language Context

**Igbo (Asụsụ Igbo)** is one of Nigeria's major languages:
- **Speakers**: 45M+ (27M native, 18M+ L2)
- **Official language**: Nigeria (one of 3 major languages alongside Hausa, Yoruba)
- **Geographic spread**: Southeast Nigeria (Anambra, Imo, Abia, Enugu, Ebonyi states), diaspora
- **Writing system**: Latin alphabet (standardized orthography)
- **Linguistic family**: Niger-Congo (Volta-Niger branch)
- **Cultural significance**: Igbo literature, music (highlife), Nollywood (Igbo films)
- **Digital presence**: Growing on social media, YouTube, Nigerian tech ecosystem

## Target Applications

This dataset is designed for:

- **Igbo ASR systems** - Speech recognition for 45M+ speakers
- **Voice assistants** - Nigerian tech startups, mobile banking in Southeast Nigeria
- **TTS for Igbo** - Text-to-speech with authentic Igbo pronunciation
- **Language learning apps** - Pronunciation training for Igbo learners
- **Content moderation** - Social media platforms operating in Nigeria
- **Transcription services** - Igbo films, radio, podcasts, Nollywood content
- **Cultural preservation** - Digitizing Igbo oral traditions, proverbs (ilu)

## Dataset Structure

```
igbo-speech/
└── data/
├── audio/ # 36 WAV files
└── metadata.csv # Speaker metadata & transcripts
```

## Data Splits

### Igbo (Nigeria)
- **Files**: 36 recordings
- **Dialect**: Primarily Owerri Igbo (Central Igbo, widely understood)
- **Context**: Natural spontaneous speech
- **Use case**: General-purpose Igbo ASR, Southeast Nigerian voice AI

## Languages Sampled in This Dataset ✅
36 audio samples available for immediate download:
- **Igbo**: 36 files (~22 minutes)

## Full OTS Inventory Available 📊
This sample represents **<0.21%** of Silencio's complete Igbo speech inventory.

Contact us for access to our full Igbo corpus:

**Igbo by Country:**
- **Nigeria**: 939 hours, 81,391 recordings
- **Angola**: 4 hours, 366 recordings
- **United States**: 3 hours, 286 recordings
- **United Kingdom**: 2 hours, 145 recordings
- **American Samoa**: 1 hour, 166 recordings
- **South Africa**: 1 hour, 27 recordings
- **Ghana**: 0.3 hours, 16 recordings
- **Algeria**: 0.3 hours, 46 recordings
- **+ 10 more countries** (diaspora communities)

**Total**: **952+ hours** across **83,000+ recordings**

**Contact us for access**: [[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail])

## Key Features

✅ **Native speakers** - Authentic Southeast Nigerian Igbo (Owerri dialect)
✅ **Natural speech** - Real conversational Igbo, not scripted
✅ **Central dialect** - Owerri variant (widely understood across Igboland)
✅ **Diverse topics** - Daily life, business, opinions, culture
✅ **High audio quality** - 48 kHz WAV format
✅ **Rich metadata** - Gender, dialect, emotions, transcriptions in Latin script
✅ **Ethical data collection** - Consent-based, privacy-preserving

## Use Cases

### 1. Igbo Speech Recognition
Build ASR systems for the 45M+ Igbo-speaking market in Southeast Nigeria and the diaspora.

### 2. Voice Banking & Fintech
Power voice-enabled mobile banking in Southeast Nigeria (Owerri, Aba, Enugu, Onitsha).

### 3. Igbo TTS
Train text-to-speech models with authentic Igbo pronunciation and tonal patterns.

### 4. Content Moderation
Build speech detection for Nigerian social media platforms and Igbo content on YouTube/TikTok.

### 5. Nollywood & Media
Improve automatic transcription for Igbo films, radio shows, and podcasts.

### 6. Cultural Preservation
Digitize Igbo oral traditions, proverbs (ilu), folktales (akụkọ ifo), and highlife music.

## Loading the Dataset

```python
from datasets import load_dataset

# Load full Igbo dataset
dataset = load_dataset("SilencioNetwork/igbo-speech")

# Access samples
for sample in dataset['train']:
audio = sample['audio']
transcript = sample['transcript']
dialect = sample['dialect']
print(f"Transcript: {transcript}")
print(f"Dialect: {dialect}")
```

## Sample Metadata

Each recording includes:
- `file_name`: Audio file path
- `id`: Unique recording ID
- `gender`: Speaker gender
- `location`: Speaker location
- `mother_tongue`: Native language (Igbo)
- `dialect`: Regional variant (Nigeria - Owerri)
- `duration`: Recording length (seconds)
- `emotions`: Emotion labels (focused, relaxed, happy, etc.)
- `language`: Igbo
- `type_of_script`: free_speech (spontaneous, unscripted)
- `transcript`: Whisper-generated transcription (Latin script)
- `script`: Original prompt (question asked in Igbo)

## Igbo Speech Characteristics

This dataset captures authentic Igbo speech features:
- **Tonal language**: High, low, downstep tones - critical for word meaning
- **Vowel harmony**: ATR (advanced tongue root) harmony system
- **Syllable structure**: Primarily CV (consonant-vowel)
- **Nasal vowels**: Distinctive nasalization (ụ, ọ, etc.)
- **Complex morphology**: Rich verb affixation
- **Natural prosody**: Authentic rhythm, stress, intonation
- **Real-world audio**: Mobile recordings, natural environments

## Market Context

### Southeast Nigerian Economy
- **45M+ Igbo speakers** - One of Nigeria's 3 major language groups
- **Southeast Nigeria**: 25M+ population, major commercial zone
- **Aba/Onitsha**: Commercial hubs, major markets
- **Diaspora**: Large Igbo communities in US, UK (high-value market)
- **Entrepreneurial culture**: Igbo traders/business owners across West Africa
- **Nollywood**: Igbo-language films popular across Nigeria
- **Highlife music**: Igbo cultural tradition influencing African pop music

### Why Igbo Matters
- **Underrepresented in AI**: <0.01% of speech datasets despite 45M+ speakers
- **Commercial language**: Southeast Nigeria's economy (manufacturing, trade)
- **Cultural influence**: Igbo literature (Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Adichie), music, film
- **Diaspora market**: Wealthy communities in US/UK seeking language tech
- **Growing digital economy**: E-commerce, fintech emerging in Aba/Onitsha/Nnewi

## Igbo Dialects

**Owerri Igbo** (represented in this dataset) is part of **Central Igbo**:
- Widely understood across Igboland
- Used in some media and education
- Mutually intelligible with other Central dialects

**Standard Igbo** (based on Owerri/Onitsha) is used in:
- Education
- Radio/TV broadcasts
- Religious services
- Written literature

Other major dialect groups: Onitsha, Nsukka, Owerri, Ngwa (all mutually intelligible)

## Tonal Language Considerations

Igbo is a **tonal language** - pitch changes word meaning:

- **àkwá** (crying)
- **ákwà** (cloth)
- **ákwá** (egg)
- **ákwà** (bridge)

ASR/TTS systems need to capture these tone distinctions for accurate Igbo processing.

## Ethical Considerations

All data was collected with explicit informed consent from native Igbo speakers. Recordings contain general conversational topics only - no sensitive personal information.

## Comparison to Other Datasets

| Dataset | Language | Hours | Speakers | Natural? |
|---------|----------|-------|----------|----------|
| LibriSpeech | English | 1,000 | 2,484 | ❌ Read speech |
| Common Voice | Igbo | ~5 | Few | ⚠️ Read sentences |
| **Silencio Igbo** | **Igbo** | **952+** | **3,900+** | **✅ Spontaneous** |

**This is the largest natural Igbo speech dataset available.**

## Citation

If you use this dataset in your research or commercial product, please cite:

```bibtex
@dataset{silencio_igbo_speech_2026,
title={Igbo Speech Dataset},
author={Silencio Network},
year={2026},
publisher={HuggingFace},
url={https://huggingface.co/datasets/SilencioNetwork/igbo-speech}
}
```

## Related Datasets

- [African Languages Speech](https://huggingface.co/datasets/SilencioNetwork/african-languages-speech) - 6 African languages (Swahili, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Amharic, Nigerian English)
- [Yoruba Speech](https://huggingface.co/datasets/SilencioNetwork/yoruba-speech) - 50 Yoruba samples (fellow Nigerian language)
- [Hausa Speech](https://huggingface.co/datasets/SilencioNetwork/hausa-speech) - 49 Hausa samples (fellow Nigerian language)
- [Complete Voice AI Speech Dataset](https://huggingface.co/datasets/SilencioNetwork/complete-voiceai-speech-dataset) - 39 language/accent variants

## License

**CC BY-NC 4.0** (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International)

✅ Free for research and non-commercial use
❌ Commercial use requires licensing (contact us)

## About Silencio

Silencio is a voice AI data sourcing company with 2M+ contributors across 180+ countries. We provide scaled sourcing of real-world audio and speech data for AI labs, robotics companies, and enterprises building voice AI products.

🌐 [silencioai.com](https://www.silencioai.com)
📧 [[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail])

---

**Tags**: igbo, asụsụ igbo, nigerian languages, west africa, nigeria, southeast nigeria, owerri, tonal language, african languages, low-resource languages, speech recognition, asr, tts, voice ai, natural speech, spontaneous speech, nigerian speech, nollywood