Name the conditions precisely
Separate background voices, environmental sounds, echo, clipping, compression artifacts, low level, and missing audio. They affect different parts of the speech pipeline. Define which conditions reflect the intended deployment and which would merely add difficulty without representing a meaningful operating scenario.
Distinguish natural and added distortion
If noise or channel effects are introduced during preparation, label those derivatives clearly and preserve the original reference. Describe how transformations were applied. Artificial corruption can test a controlled condition, but it should not be presented as a measurement of the naturally occurring quality distribution in an operational call source.
Keep comparable evaluation groups
Where appropriate, compare different versions of the same source segment while preventing related material from crossing unintended split boundaries. Report results by condition and severity using documented criteria. Include enough readable or intelligible reference material to assess whether an error reflects the model or an unreliable target label.
Review source fit and transformations
Listen to representative examples and record whether important words remain understandable to qualified reviewers. Share target conditions, permitted transformations, and reference requirements with Fiund. Source selection and processing need review for the particular project, including whether derived audio preserves the conversation structure and handling expectations your workflow requires. For a noisy example, ask a qualified listener to mark the words they can support with confidence before comparing model output. If the reference itself requires guessing, separate that uncertainty from the model score. This keeps a deliberately difficult robustness slice from producing apparently precise results unsupported by the source audio.
Review checklist
- List distinct acoustic failure conditions
- Label natural versus introduced effects
- Group related audio versions consistently
- Review intelligibility and reference reliability