Japanese conversation corpus for training and evaluation of backchannel prediction model

In this paper, we propose an experimental method for building a specialized corpus for training and evaluating backchannel prediction models of spoken dialogue. To develop a backchannel prediction model using a machine learning technique, it is necessary to discriminate between the timings of the interlocutor’s speech when more listeners commonly respond with backchannels and the timings when fewer listeners do so. The proposed corpus indicates the normative timings for backchannels in each speech with millisecond accuracy. In the proposed method, we first extracted each speech comprising a single turn from recorded conversation. Second, we presented these speeches as stimuli to 89 participants and asked them to respond by key hitting whenever they thought it appropriate to respond with a backchannel. In this way, we collected 28983 responses. Third, we applied the Gaussian mixture model to the temporal distribution of the responses and estimated the center of Gaussian distribution, that is, the backchannel relevance place (BRP), in each case. Finally, we synthesized 10 pairs of stereo speech stimuli and asked 19 participants to rate each on a 7-point scale of naturalness. The results show that backchannels inserted at BRPs were significantly higher than those in the original condition.