Visual Bank Inc. (Minato-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Saneyuki Nagai) has announced the release of a new dataset under its AI training data solution, Qlean Dataset, operated through its subsidiary amanaimages Inc. The newly launched dataset, Japanese Single-Speaker Educational Read-Aloud Speech Corpus with Transcripts, is designed for speech and language AI development, including Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), Natural Language Processing (NLP), and Large Language Models (LLMs).

The corpus consists of Japanese audio recordings of a native speaker reading educational and language-learning materials, paired with aligned transcripts. Recorded in a continuous single-speaker read-aloud format, the dataset maintains clear pronunciation and consistent sentence structure, reflecting vocabulary and expressions typical of instructional content.

Audio and text are systematically aligned, enabling utterance-level verification and transcription accuracy evaluation. The inclusion of explanatory and definitional language makes the dataset suitable for assessing ASR performance on read speech and for domain adaptation research in language models.

Qlean Dataset supports both research and commercial AI development. All data is rights-cleared for use from model development through deployment.

Overview of the Japanese Single-Speaker Educational Read-Aloud Speech Corpus with Transcripts

Use Case Examples

Research Applications

• ASR Accuracy Evaluation in the Education Domain
  This dataset can be used to evaluate word error rate (WER) and sentence-level recognition accuracy of ASR models when processing explanatory read speech. It enables comparison with conversational corpora to analyze performance differences caused by stylistic variation.

• Domain Adaptation Research for LLMs Using Educational Texts
  By leveraging the aligned transcripts, researchers can conduct fine-tuning or evaluation of language models using education-focused texts. The dataset supports analysis of generation quality and summarization performance for definitional and step-by-step explanatory content.

Industrial Applications

• Development of Speech Recognition Engines for Educational Content
  The corpus can serve as training and evaluation data for ASR systems used in e-learning platforms and online lectures. It supports accuracy improvement for automatic caption generation from instructional read speech.

• Enhancement of Read-Aloud Evaluation Features in Language Learning Applications
  The dataset can be used as reference speech data to develop comparison models between standard read-aloud recordings and learners’ spoken input. It supports validation of pronunciation and prosody analysis algorithms.

Additional Practical Applications

• Quality Assessment for Accessibility-Oriented Speech Synthesis
  By comparing synthesized speech outputs for educational materials with the human-read recordings in this dataset, developers can evaluate naturalness and clarity for public information and accessibility use cases.

About Qlean Dataset

Qlean Dataset is a commercial-use-ready AI training data solution provided by Amana Images Inc., a subsidiary of Visual Bank Inc.
It supports a wide range of data types, including images, videos, audio, 3D assets, and text, enabling both research and commercial AI development in a legally safe environment.
Through collaborations with data partners such as Chiba Lotte Marines Co., Ltd. and Toyo Keizai Inc., Qlean Dataset continues to expand its specialized, industry-focused lineup known as the “AI Data Recipe.”
By reducing the operational burden of data collection and preparation, Qlean Dataset helps organizations establish AI development environments that are both legally compliant and risk-free.

▶ Qlean Dataset: https://qleandataset.visual-bank.co.jp/en
▶ AI Data Recipe: https://qleandataset.visual-bank.co.jp/en/lineup

Key Features of Qlean Dataset

• Existing datasets deliverable within one business day

• Custom data collection and recording services available

▶ Contact: https://qleandataset.visual-bank.co.jp/en/contact

About Visual Bank Inc.

Visual Bank Inc. is a Tokyo-based startup building Next-Generation Data infrastructure to enhance AI development capabilities under the mission “Unlocking Data Accessibility.”
The company operates THE PEN, an AI-assisted creative tool for manga artists and the Qlean Dataset service.
Its subsidiaries include Amana Images Inc., one of Japan’s largest photostock providers; Qlean Dataset, which leads research and development in AI data; and THE PEN Inc., an AI-assisted creative tool for manga artists.

CEO: Saneyuki Nagai
Address: 6F, C-Cube Minami Aoyama Building, 7-1-7 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0062
Corporate Site: https://visual-bank.co.jp/en
Amana Images: https://qleandataset.visual-bank.co.jp/en/company-overview