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Aug 3, 2024, 3:45:28 PM8/3/24

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Pronunciation is the way in which a word or a language is spoken. This may refer to generally agreed-upon sequences of sounds used in speaking a given word or language in a specific dialect ("correct" or "standard" pronunciation) or simply the way a particular individual speaks a word or language.

Words' pronunciations can be found in reference works such as dictionaries. General-purpose dictionaries typically only include standard pronunciations, but regional or dialectal pronunciations may be found in more specific works.[1] Orthoepy means pronunciation considered correct, or the study thereof.

A word can be spoken in different ways by various individuals or groups, depending on many factors, such as: the duration of the cultural exposure of their childhood, the location of their current residence, speech or voice disorders,[2] their ethnic group, their social class, or their education.[3]

Syllables are combinations of units of sound (phones), for example "goo" has one syllable made up of [g] and [u]. The branch of linguistics which studies these units of sound is phonetics. Phones which play the same role are grouped together into classes called phonemes; the study of these is phonemics or phonematics or phonology. Phones as components of articulation are usually described using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).[4]

In this article, you learn how to evaluate pronunciation with speech to text through the Speech SDK. Pronunciation assessment evaluates speech pronunciation and gives speakers feedback on the accuracy and fluency of spoken audio.

Pronunciation assessment supports uninterrupted streaming mode. The recording time can be unlimited through the Speech SDK. As long as you don't stop recording, the evaluation process doesn't finish and you can pause and resume evaluation conveniently.

As a baseline, usage of pronunciation assessment costs the same as speech to text for pay-as-you-go or commitment tier pricing. If you purchase a commitment tier for speech to text, the spend for pronunciation assessment goes towards meeting the commitment. For more information, see Pricing.

In the SpeechRecognizer, you can specify the language to learn or practice improving pronunciation. The default locale is en-US. To learn how to specify the learning language for pronunciation assessment in your own application, you can use the following sample code.

If you aren't sure which locale to set for a language that has multiple locales, try each locale separately. For instance, for Spanish, try es-ES and es-MX. Determine which locale scores higher for your scenario.

You must create a PronunciationAssessmentConfig object. You can set EnableProsodyAssessment and EnableContentAssessmentWithTopic to enable prosody and content assessment. For more information, see configuration methods.

For Android application development, the word, syllable, and phoneme results are available by using SDK objects with the Speech SDK for Java. The results are also available in the JSON string. For Java Runtime (JRE) application development, the word, syllable, and phoneme results are only available in the JSON string.

Depending on whether you're using scripted or unscripted assessment, you can get different pronunciation assessment results. Scripted assessment is for the reading language learning scenario. Unscripted assessment is for the speaking language learning scenario.

The following table summarizes which features that locales support. For more specifies, see the following sections. If the locales you require aren't listed in the following table for the supported feature, fill out this intake form for further assistance.

Pronunciation assessment can provide syllable-level assessment results. A word is typically pronounced syllable by syllable rather than phoneme by phoneme. Grouping in syllables is more legible and aligned with speaking habits.

For locales that support phoneme name, the phoneme name is provided together with the score. Phoneme names help identify which phonemes were pronounced accurately or inaccurately. For other locales, you can only get the phoneme score.

For example, to obtain the complete spoken sound for the word Hello, you can concatenate the first spoken phoneme for each expected phoneme with the highest confidence score. In the following assessment result, when you speak the word hello, the expected IPA phonemes are h ɛ l oʊ. However, the actual spoken phonemes are h ə l oʊ. You have five possible candidates for each expected phoneme in this example. The assessment result shows that the most likely spoken phoneme was ə instead of the expected phoneme ɛ. The expected phoneme ɛ only received a confidence score of 47. Other potential matches received confidence scores of 52, 17, and 2.

Some of the features described in this article might only be available in preview. This preview is provided without a service-level agreement, and we don't recommend it for production workloads. Certain features might not be supported or might have constrained capabilities. For more information, see Supplemental Terms of Use for Microsoft Azure Previews.

Pronunciation assessment uses the speech to text capability to provide subjective and objective feedback for language learners. Practicing pronunciation and getting timely feedback are essential for improving language skills. Assessments driven by experienced teachers can take much time and effort and makes a high-quality assessment expensive for learners. Pronunciation assessment can help make the language assessment more engaging and accessible to learners of all backgrounds.

This article describes how to use the pronunciation assessment tool without writing any code through the AI Studio. For information about how to integrate pronunciation assessment in your speech applications, see How to use pronunciation assessment.

When recording your speech for pronunciation assessment, it's important to ensure that your recording time falls within the recommended range of 15 seconds (equivalent to more than 50 words) to 10 minutes. This time range is optimal for evaluating the content of your speech accurately. To receive a topic score, your spoken audio should contain at least three sentences.

Once you recorded your speech or uploaded the recorded audio, the Assessment result is output. The result includes your spoken audio and the feedback on your speech assessment. You can listen to your spoken audio and download it if necessary.

The word is highlighted according to the error type. The error types in the pronunciation assessment are represented using different colors. This visual distinction makes it easier to identify and analyze specific errors. It provides a clear overview of the error types and frequencies in the spoken audio, helping you focus on areas that need improvement. You can toggle on/off each error type to focus on specific types of errors or exclude certain types from the display. This feature provides flexibility in how you review and analyze the errors in your spoken audio. While hovering over each word, you can see accuracy scores for the whole word or specific phonemes.

At the bottom of the Assessment result, scoring results are displayed. For scripted pronunciation assessment, only the pronunciation score (including accuracy score, fluency score, completeness score, and prosody score) is provided. For unscripted pronunciation assessment, both pronunciation score (including accuracy score, fluency score, and prosody score) and content score (including vocabulary score, grammar score, and topic score) are displayed.

The complete transcription is shown in the text attribute. You can see accuracy scores for the whole word, syllables, and specific phonemes. You can get the same results using the Speech SDK. For information, see How to use pronunciation assessment.

In addition to the baseline scores of accuracy, fluency, and completeness, the pronunciation assessment feature in the AI Studio includes more comprehensive scores to provide detailed feedback on various aspects of speech performance and understanding. The enhanced scores are as follows: Prosody score, Vocabulary score, Grammar score, and Topic score. These scores offer valuable insights into speech prosody, vocabulary usage, grammar correctness, and topic understanding.

At the bottom of the Assessment result, two overall scores are displayed: Pronunciation score and Content score. In the Reading tab, you find the Pronunciation score displayed. In the Speaking tab, both the Pronunciation score and the Content score are displayed.

Pronunciation score: This score represents an aggregated assessment of the pronunciation quality and includes four subaspects. These scores are available in both the reading and speaking tabs for both scripted and unscripted assessments.

Content score: This score provides an aggregated assessment of the content of the speech and includes three subaspects. This score is only available in the speaking tab for an unscripted assessment.

These overall scores offer a comprehensive assessment of both pronunciation and content, providing learners with valuable feedback on various aspects of their speech performance and understanding. With these enhanced features, language learners can gain deeper insights into their advantages and areas for improvement in both pronunciation and content expression.

Pronunciation assessment supports uninterrupted streaming mode. The AI Studio demo allows for up to 60 minutes of recording in streaming mode for evaluation. As long as you don't press the stop recording button, the evaluation process doesn't finish and you can pause and resume evaluation conveniently.

The pronunciation assessment feature also offers other scores that aren't included in the baseline speech to text price: prosody, grammar, topic, and vocabulary. These scores are available as an add-on charge above the baseline speech to text price. For information about pricing, see speech to text pricing.