MSc Voice Technology

Join the forefront of technological innovation!

Just as the smartphone ushered in a new wave of innovation, forever changing how we communicate, engage, navigate, and shop, so too is voice technology poised to fundamentally alter how we interact with our ubiquitous, interconnected devices.

A totally unique Master’s programme!

This Master’s programme is one-of-its-kind. No other Master’s programme in continental Europe is dedicated exclusively to Voice Technology. No matter if your Bachelor’s degree is in linguistics, computer science, engineering, digital humanities, or something else altogether, if you are interested in voice technology and aren’t afraid of exploring new terrain, then this is the programme for you.

Contribute to one of the fastest growing sectors!

Speech technologies have permeated modern life so much that we hardly even notice their presence, much less understand how they work. Whenever you dictate a message on your smartphone, ask Alexa the weather, use instant translation software, or learn a language using an app, you are using voice technologies. And with new Internet-of-Things applications on the horizon, smart spaces and the presence of Siri, Alexa, Cortana, Bixby and Google Home are poised to grow even further. Voice technologies are a multibillion dollar industry with potential for unparalleled social and scientific impact.

Innovate, explore, create!

This programme is very hands-on. You will get your hands dirty working in teams making synthetic voices, speech recognizers, and more. You’ll even make your own voice-tech demo. People with scientific expertise in the domain of voice technology are in short supply. We aim to fix that. Starting with you! In this one-year programme, you will join cutting-edge scholars, professionals, and technologists working at the forefront of voice technology innovation.

If you are interested in challenges relating to

synthetic voices and speech recognition
the interplay between voice, language, speech and technology
tools to support lesser-resourced, minoritized languages
radical innovation around voice forensics, including topics like accent recognition, intoxication detection, real-time speech pathology analysis, etc.
ethical issues relating to voice technology

… then join us at the University of Groningen (Campus Fryslân) MSc Voice Technology.

More information? Sign up via the contact form below or send an email to cf-vt rug.nl

* This programme is accredited and awaiting a CROHO code which enables you to apply via our website and Studielink. The programme's start-date is September 2021. Please subscribe to the newsletter via the keep me posted button and we will keep you informed.

After your studies

Job prospects

Considering the numbers for the sectors ICT and linguistics, estimations are that people working in ICT and specifically application developers have remarkably positive career perspectives. These estimates are also reflected in the rapidly growing international market for voice assistants, smart speakers, and countless other IoT-connected devices enabled with voice technology.

Considering only the case for the Netherlands, after the introduction of Dutch-enabled smart speakers in 2018, the market for these products grew from 0% to 5% in under five months! The trend continues upward. Overall, the career perspectives for graduates from the Voice Technology MSc. are remarkably positive.

In designing this programme, we interview many Dutch speech technology companies. All of them have difficulties fulfilling local vacancies and remarked on the paucity of applicants with the requisite combination of linguistic knowledge, programming skills and experience with machine learning, all of which are core to the MSc Voice Technology.

Job examples

Speech Scientist
Speech Analyst
Research Engineer
Language Data Specialist
Voice Forensic Specialist
Entrepreneur
Various research and academic careers as a PhD student at several universities or academic speech technology labs in Europe and beyond!

Research

Culture, Language & Technology Flagship

The Culture, Language & Technology Flagship comprises an interdisciplinary team of doctoral researchers and lecturers who are dedicated to exploring how Human, Social and Behavioural Science-lead research can have a regional impact. The Flagship has two research themes:

Minoritized languages and multilingualism: Much scholarly activity at the CLT Flag- ship (including all PhD research) involves work on Frisian and Dutch minority cultures and languages alongside other minoritized cultures and languages.

Voice and speech technologies: Research is dedicated to voice and speech technologies. This theme includes not only technological components, but also social and cultural issues (e.g. how technology is used, by whom, and for what purposes)

Students in the MSc Voice Technology. may have the opportunity to collaborate on doctoral research, build up an international network and participate in periodic lectures, summer schools and events organized by the Culture, Language & Technology Flagship.