Middle East · Saudi Arabia
Arabic (Gulf) conversational speech dataset
500 hours of spontaneous Arabic (Gulf) conversations recorded in Saudi Arabia across 50 vetted native speakers. Dual-channel audio with time-aligned transcripts, speaker metadata (age, gender, region, device), and full chain-of-consent documentation. Licensed for commercial ASR, TTS, and voice AI training.
Dataset specifications
| Language | Arabic (Gulf) |
|---|---|
| Recorded in | Saudi Arabia |
| Speech type | Spontaneous two-person conversations |
| Volume | 500 hours |
| Speakers | 50 vetted native speakers |
| Audio | Dual-channel (one channel per speaker) |
| Transcripts | Time-aligned, human-verified |
| Metadata | Age, gender, region, recording device |
| License | Commercial (training & evaluation) |
| Price | $90 per hour of audio |
Need more hours, another dialect or your own recording setup? We collect speech data to spec.
Built for
Training and evaluating speech models that must handle real Arabic (Gulf) speech:
- Automatic speech recognition (ASR / STT)
- Text-to-speech & voice synthesis prosody
- Voice agents and IVR for Saudi Arabia
- Speaker diarization & turn-taking models
- Speech LLM / audio-understanding fine-tuning
Why conversational data?
Models trained on read speech consistently underperform on spontaneous audio. Disfluencies, overlap, and natural speech rates aren’t in the training distribution. This dataset closes that gap for Arabic (Gulf). Read more in our guide to conversational vs. scripted speech data.
Free samples
Audit the Arabic (Gulf) data yourself
Share your company email and we’ll email you representative audio, matching transcripts, and the metadata schema. Check audio quality, transcript accuracy, and speaker diversity before you spend a dollar.
Public alternatives
Public Gulf Arabic speech data vs. this dataset
| Source | What it is | License | Commercial training |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gulf Arabic Conversational Telephone Speech (LDC2006S43) (opens in a new tab)Linguistic Data Consortium (LDC) | About 2,800 minutes of spontaneous telephone conversations in colloquial Gulf Arabic; transcripts are a separate LDC release. | LDC User Agreement for Non-Members (fee applies; non-commercial research and education only); commercial use requires LDC for-profit membership | Paid license |
| SADA (Saudi Audio Dataset for Arabic) (opens in a new tab)NCAI at SDAIA with the Saudi Broadcasting Authority | Over 600 hours of Arabic audio from more than 57 Saudi Broadcasting Authority TV shows, mostly in Saudi dialects. | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 | Not allowed |
LDC's Gulf Arabic phone calls need for-profit LDC membership for commercial use, and SADA's Saudi TV audio is non-commercial. This dataset is two-person conversation recorded in Saudi Arabia.
Licenses as published by each source, checked October 2026. Check the current terms before use.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What does the Arabic (Gulf) speech dataset include?
500 hours of spontaneous two-person conversations from 50 vetted native speakers recorded in Saudi Arabia, delivered as dual-channel audio with time-aligned transcripts, speaker metadata (age, gender, region, device), and consent documentation.
What makes Gulf Arabic hard for speech recognition?
Gulf Arabic differs from Modern Standard Arabic in sounds ("q" often becomes "g" and "k" can become "ch"), vocabulary and grammar, and it has no fixed spelling. Gulf speech also varies by country and region, so models trained on MSA miss a lot of it.
Is there free Gulf Arabic speech data?
None that is clearly free for commercial use: Gulf Arabic Conversational Telephone Speech needs a paid license, and SADA is non-commercial only. This dataset is spontaneous two-person conversation recorded in Saudi Arabia, with speaker metadata, one channel per speaker and signed commercial-use consent.
Can I use this Arabic (Gulf) dataset commercially?
Yes. The dataset is licensed for commercial use, including training ASR, TTS, and other voice-AI models. Every speaker has signed explicit commercial-use consent, and we provide the full consent chain for your legal review.
How much does the Arabic (Gulf) speech dataset cost?
Pricing is $90 per hour of audio. Volume discounts are available for full-dataset and multi-language purchases. Contact us for a quote.
Can I evaluate samples before buying?
Yes. Request samples with your company email, and we'll email you representative audio files and matching transcripts so your team can audit quality before committing.