Middle East · Saudi Arabia
Arabic (Modern Standard) conversational speech dataset
2,000 hours of spontaneous Arabic (Modern Standard) conversations recorded in Saudi Arabia across 200 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 (Modern Standard) |
|---|---|
| Recorded in | Saudi Arabia |
| Speech type | Spontaneous two-person conversations |
| Volume | 2,000 hours |
| Speakers | 200 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 (Modern Standard) 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 (Modern Standard). Read more in our guide to conversational vs. scripted speech data.
Free samples
Audit the Arabic (Modern Standard) 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 Modern Standard Arabic speech data vs. this dataset
| Source | What it is | License | Commercial training |
|---|---|---|---|
| MGB-2 (Arabic Multi-Genre Broadcast) (opens in a new tab)QCRI (Qatar Computing Research Institute) | Al Jazeera Arabic TV programs from 19 shows, with lightly supervised transcripts. | QCRI-ALT non-exclusive research use license; commercial use needs a separate license from Qatar Foundation, if one is available | Not allowed |
| QASR (QCRI Aljazeera Speech Resource) (opens in a new tab)QCRI (Qatar Computing Research Institute) | Around 2,000 hours of Al Jazeera News Channel broadcasts, including multiple dialects and code-switching. | CC BY-NC 2.0 | Not allowed |
| Common Voice Scripted Speech (Arabic) (opens in a new tab)Mozilla Common Voice (Mozilla Data Collective) | Read speech recordings in Arabic from Mozilla's Common Voice project. | CC0 1.0 | Allowed |
| FLEURS (Arabic) (opens in a new tab)Google | Read sentences from the FLoRes translation benchmark, recorded in 102 languages; Arabic config is ar_eg. | CC BY 4.0 | Allowed |
These Arabic sources are Al Jazeera broadcast corpora for non-commercial use, or read sentences; this dataset is two-person conversation recorded in Saudi Arabia with speaker metadata and commercial consent.
Licenses as published by each source, checked October 2026. Check the current terms before use.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What does the Arabic (Modern Standard) speech dataset include?
2,000 hours of spontaneous two-person conversations from 200 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 Modern Standard Arabic hard for speech recognition?
Modern Standard Arabic is the language of news, formal speeches and writing, but almost nobody speaks it at home, and speakers carry their own dialect's accent into it. Written Arabic usually leaves out short vowels, so one spelling can be read several ways, which matters for both transcripts and TTS.
Is there free Modern Standard Arabic speech data?
Yes, Common Voice and FLEURS are free for commercial use. MGB-2 and QASR are 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 (Modern Standard) 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 (Modern Standard) 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.