YFACC: A Yor`ub'a speech-image dataset for cross-lingual keyword localisation through visual grounding
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Abstract (arXiv)
Visually grounded speech (VGS) models are trained on images paired with unlabelled spoken captions. Such models could be used to build speech systems in settings where it is impossible to get labelled data, e.g. for documenting unwritten languages. However, most VGS studies are in English or other high-resource languages. This paper attempts to address this shortcoming. We collect and release a new single-speaker dataset of audio captions for 6k Flickr images in Yor`ub'a -- a real low-resource language spoken in Nigeria. We train an attention-based VGS model where images are automatically tagged with English visual labels and paired with Yor`ub'a utterances. This enables cross-lingual keyword localisation: a written English query is detected and located in Yor`ub'a speech. To quantify the effect of the smaller dataset, we compare to English systems trained on similar and more data. We hope that this new dataset will stimulate research in the use of VGS models for real low-resource languages.
Key facts. Cited by 8 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 28 of its 45 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 10 Oct 2022.
Builds on
28 of 45 references.
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16 more
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Built on by
Citing papers per year: 2023: 2; 2024: 2; 2025: 3; 2026: 1.
8 papers.
- 2023AfriSpeech-200: Pan-African Accented Speech Dataset for Clinical and General Domain ASRcited by 34
- 2025Charting the Landscape of African NLP: Mapping Progress and Shaping the Road Aheadcited by 15
- 2025The NaijaVoices Dataset: Cultivating Large-Scale, High-Quality, Culturally-Rich Speech Data for African Languagescited by 7
- 2023Visually grounded few-shot word learning in low-resource settingscited by 4
- 2024Translating speech with just imagescited by 2
- 2025Bridging Gaps in Natural Language Processing for Yor`ub'a: A Systematic Review of a Decade of Progress and Prospectscited by 2
- 2026Connecting Speech to Words through Imagescited by 1
- 2024Improved Visually Prompted Keyword Localisation in Real Low-Resource Settingscited by 0
- 2026Connecting Speech to Words through Images15 Jun 2026
- 2025Charting the Landscape of African NLP: Mapping Progress and Shaping the Road Ahead27 May 2025
- 2025The NaijaVoices Dataset: Cultivating Large-Scale, High-Quality, Culturally-Rich Speech Data for African Languages26 May 2025
- 2025Bridging Gaps in Natural Language Processing for Yor`ub'a: A Systematic Review of a Decade of Progress and Prospects24 Feb 2025
- 2024Improved Visually Prompted Keyword Localisation in Real Low-Resource Settings9 Sep 2024
- 2024Translating speech with just images11 Jun 2024
- 2023AfriSpeech-200: Pan-African Accented Speech Dataset for Clinical and General Domain ASR30 Sep 2023
- 2023Visually grounded few-shot word learning in low-resource settings20 Jun 2023