Rules & Ethics

Eligibility and Registration

• Open to researchers, students, and professionals globally

• Each participant may join only one team

• Teams must complete registration before dataset access

• Registration link will be provided on the Home page

Data Usage Policy

• Only the dataset provided by the organizers may be used

• External datasets are not permitted, unless they are fully public

• Using publicly available pretrained models is allowed

• No use of proprietary or private datasets

Ethics & Compliance

• All data collection and diagnoses followed Mass General Brigham IRB-approved protocols

• Participants must adhere to:

  • Mass General Brigham data-use and privacy policies

  • U.S. Bulk Data Transfer Rule

  • Institutional ethics requirements

• A data-use agreement must be executed before dataset access

Disqualification Criteria

Teams will be disqualified if they:

• Use external private data or unauthorized models

• Submit results from multiple teams (duplicate entries)

• Misrepresent identity or dataset usage

• Fail to comply with submission or ethical standards

Code of Conduct

The challenge complies with the ISCA Code of Conduct, promoting respectful, inclusive, and ethical participation. 

The Interspeech 2026 Challenge Committee reserves the right to request modifications or withdraw the challenge if these conditions are breached.