Europe · Netherlands
Dutch conversational speech dataset
1,000 hours of spontaneous Dutch conversations recorded in the Netherlands across 100 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 | Dutch |
|---|---|
| Recorded in | Netherlands |
| Speech type | Spontaneous two-person conversations |
| Volume | 1,000 hours |
| Speakers | 100 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 | $95 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 Dutch speech:
- Automatic speech recognition (ASR / STT)
- Text-to-speech & voice synthesis prosody
- Voice agents and IVR for the Netherlands
- 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 Dutch. Read more in our guide to conversational vs. scripted speech data.
Free samples
Audit the Dutch 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 Dutch speech data vs. this dataset
| Source | What it is | License | Commercial training |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corpus Gesproken Nederlands (CGN) (opens in a new tab)Nederlandse Taalunie (owner), distributed by the Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal (IVDNT) | About 900 hours of standard Dutch from speakers in the Netherlands and Flanders, spontaneous and prepared speech. | Signed IVDNT license, free of charge; the separate CGN Commercieel edition allows commercial derivative products such as speech recognizers | Allowed, with restrictions |
| Multilingual LibriSpeech (MLS) Dutch (opens in a new tab)Meta AI (via OpenSLR) | Dutch read audiobooks from LibriVox with transcripts. | CC BY 4.0 | Allowed |
| VoxPopuli Dutch (transcribed) (opens in a new tab)Meta AI | Transcribed Dutch speeches from European Parliament event recordings, 2009 to 2020. | CC0 for VoxPopuli data; the raw audio falls under the European Parliament legal notice (reuse allowed if the entire item is reproduced and the source acknowledged) | Unclear |
| Mozilla Common Voice Dutch (Scripted and Spontaneous Speech) (opens in a new tab)Mozilla Common Voice (via Mozilla Data Collective) | Volunteers read Dutch sentences aloud, with curated Netherlands Dutch subsets; a separate Spontaneous Speech release has unscripted answers to questions. | CC0 1.0 | Allowed |
CGN has spontaneous Dutch from the Netherlands and Flanders under a signed IVDNT license; this dataset is two-person conversation recorded in the Netherlands, with explicit commercial-use consent from every speaker.
Licenses as published by each source, checked October 2026. Check the current terms before use.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What does the Dutch speech dataset include?
1,000 hours of spontaneous two-person conversations from 100 vetted native speakers recorded in the Netherlands, delivered as dual-channel audio with time-aligned transcripts, speaker metadata (age, gender, region, device), and consent documentation.
What makes Dutch hard for speech recognition?
Dutch has a guttural "g" and "ch", lots of diphthongs and, like German, open-ended compound words. Pronunciation varies from the Randstad to Limburg and Groningen, and casual speech borrows plenty of English.
Is there free Dutch speech data?
Yes, Multilingual LibriSpeech Dutch and Mozilla Common Voice Dutch are free for commercial use, and Corpus Gesproken Nederlands is too, with restrictions. VoxPopuli Dutch has unclear terms. This dataset is spontaneous two-person conversation recorded in the Netherlands, with speaker metadata, one channel per speaker and signed commercial-use consent.
Can I use this Dutch 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 Dutch speech dataset cost?
Pricing is $95 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.