Is There an ASR Gender Gap?

The text discusses the gender gap in Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) technology and how it intersects with women's voices and speech patterns. It highlights that while English has relatively little overt gender marking, there are distinct vocal characteristics associated with women's speech. Some commentators see female speech as a tool for social connection and power, while others criticize certain speech patterns like uptalk and vocal fry. The text also explores the role of technology in this problem, noting that early decisions in voice recording limited the "voiceband" range to better serve male voices. Deepgram's ASR data shows a very small accuracy gap between male and female speakers, which is an encouraging sign for gender equality in speech technology.