Blizzard Challenge 2009

For the Blizzard Challenge 2009, we again plan to release databases in UK English and Mandarin. The results will be presented at a satellite event planned for Interspeech 2009.

Read these first

• Download the Final announcement and call for participation for the Blizzard Challenge 2009 in PDF format. [UPDATED 21 January 2009: correction to number of syllables in Chinese database]

• Read and agree to the Blizzard Challenge 2009 Rules before participating.

Data download and license agreements

• First, you must register by emailing blizzard@festvox.org
• Then, complete license agreements for the data, which can be found here:
  • UK English database:
    • the data license agreement can be completed online: http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/projects/roger_blizzard2009/
    • if you want labels for the data, then you also need to complete the Unisyn lexicon license: http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/projects/unisyn/
  • Mandarin database (including labels):
    • download and print the license agreement from http://data.cstr.ed.ac.uk/blizzard2009/iFLYTEK_blizzard2009_license.pdf
    • sign it, then email a scanned copy to blizzard@festvox.org (if that is not possible, fax it to Simon King on +44 131 650 6626)

• Data download: You will be sent a username and password to download the data. These are the same for all downloads, and will be activated for each download after you have returned the corresponding license agreement.
  • UK English database: http://data.cstr.ed.ac.uk/blizzard2009/english/roger
  • UK English database optional labels: http://data.cstr.ed.ac.uk/blizzard2009/english/roger_festival_utterances
  • Mandarin database: http://data.cstr.ed.ac.uk/blizzard2009/chinese

• Development tools:
  • The source code for the telephone channel simulation tool is available from http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-G.191-200509-I/en and the exact pipeline of tools to run is specified in http://data.cstr.ed.ac.uk/blizzard2009/development_data.zip Many thanks to Marcel Waeltermann of Deutsche Telekom and Sebastian Moeller of TU Berlin for their help with this.
  • Development data for the ES3 spoke task are provided in http://data.cstr.ed.ac.uk/blizzard2009/development_data.zip

• Questionnaire:
  • Download the questionnaire, complete it, and return it by the deadline given in the Timeline (NOT YET AVAILABLE)

Mailing list

There is a mailing list for discussion and announcements for the challenge:

 blizzard-discuss@festvox.org

Participants must join the list by sending a message to majordomo@festvox.org with the following line in the body of the message

 subscribe blizzard-discuss

Once you a member you will be able to mail messages to blizzard-discuss@festvox.org

Timeline

The timeline shown on this web page is the offical one and supercedes those shown in announcements - it is subject to change, but we will try to follow it as closely as possible. Note that we will not consider any requests from participants to change the synthetic speech submission date or the paper submission date!

  Feb  2 2009 Databases released?
  Apr  6 2009 Test sentences released
  Apr 12 2009 Deadline for submitting synthesized speech 
  Apr 17 2009 Deadline for returning the participant questionnaire
  Apr 20 2009 Evaluation system goes live
  Jun 15 2009 End of Evaluation
  Jun 26 2009 Results distributed to teams
  Jul 24 2009 Satellite workshop papers due
  Aug 14 2009 Notification of acceptance 
  Sep 4 2009 Presentation of results at the satellite workshop in Edinburgh, UK
  Sep 6-10 2009 Interspeech 2009, UK.

Workshop

The Blizzard Challenge 2009 workshop is a satellite of Interspeech 2009. All participants are expected to submit a paper describing their entry (even if they cannot attend the workshop in person).

Location and date

Date: Friday 4th September 2009 (all day)

Location:

University of Edinburgh
Informatics Forum
10 Crichton Street
Edinburgh
EH8 9AB
UK

http://www.inf.ed.ac.uk

Accommodation

Note that the workshop is towards the end of the Edinburgh Festival period, so we strongly recommend that you book accommodation well in advance.

Suggested mid-range accommodation that is central and easy walking distance to the workshop venue:

• IBIS
• Apex
• Mercure Point Hotel

but there are many more options, and places with more character than the above hotels, at all price ranges: start here http://www.edinburgh.org

The Fringe Festival (theatre, comedy, etc) is the largest arts festival in the world, and runs throughout August every year. See http://www.edfringe.com . If you plan to come to Edinburgh during August, accommodation should be booked months in advance.

More information on all the festivals in Edinburgh can be found at http://www.edinburghfestivals.co.uk

Travel

If you are flying into the UK, then it is simplest to get a connecting flight to Edinburgh.

• Air: very frequent flights to/from London airports (Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, Stansted, London City), frequent direct flights from other European hubs (Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris) and many other locations in Europe, as well as a couple of US airports (JFK, Newark)
• Train: regular trains to/from London and other parts of the UK

Getting to Brighton from Edinburgh:

• Air: fly direct to Gatwick
• Train: via London. Book tickets online a few weeks in advance to get the best prices (e.g., http://www.thetrainline.co.uk, http://www.nationalexpresseastcoast.com).

Paper instructions

• Use the Interspeech 2009 authors' kit, but your paper should be up to SIX pages in length
• Remember that Blizzard is a scientific investigation - we are all trying to understand why some techniques work better than others.
• With this in mind, please write a detailed, technical paper aimed at a specialist audience. Focus on analysis and evaluation. Try to explain WHY your system performed the way it did, and what makes it different from other systems. Explain why your system is designed in a particular way. For example, report internal evaluations you have done to select certain methods.
• Submit your paper by email to blizzard@festvox.org by the due date (see Timeline)

Programme

TBA

Papers

The papers will be published on festvox.org

Any questions?

• Please contact blizzard@festvox.org if you have any questions

Previous challenges

• Blizzard Challenge 2008
• Blizzard Challenge 2007
• Blizzard Challenge 2006 papers and results: http://www.festvox.org/blizzard/blizzard2006.html
• Blizzard Challenge 2005 papers and results: http://www.festvox.org/blizzard/blizzard2005.html