Hackathon gets rolling to decode emotions in voices

You can expect an algorithm that can pick up emotions behind our regular conversations.
Exotel, a Cloud Telephony Company, has launched an 18-day hackathon from September 25 to October 12 for algorithmic programmers, data scientists and machine learning enthusiasts to build a system that will be able to detect emotions in conversations.
"Indians love to talk... With hundreds of languages and accents, this problem gets even more interesting and challenging. The hackathon will give a single platform to highly talented developers and coders to show their mettle," Exotel co-founder and CEO Shivakumar Ganesan said.
The participants can take part from anywhere across India, he said.

The participants will have to use speech recognition algorithms and machine learning to write code that can take voice as an input and recognise the emotion behind it, Ganesan said.
The code they submit will be run across thousands of other voice samples. The algorithm with the most accurate results will be adjudged the winner, he said.

It's a team participation where each team can have maximum three members and the winning team will be awarded the prize money of Rs 3 lakh, Ganesan said.
The runners-up will get Rs 1 lakh and top 10 teams will get gift vouchers worth Rs 5,000, he said.

The hackathon aims to develop a system where emotions can be detected in a conversation, Ganesan said.
The emotion behind every voice has a frequency and an amplitude range, and the idea is to devise a system that will be able to detect emotions in conversations, he said.