<s>
Automatic	O
pronunciation	O
assessment	O
is	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
speech	B-Application
recognition	I-Application
to	O
verify	O
the	O
correctness	O
of	O
pronounced	O
speech	O
,	O
as	O
distinguished	O
from	O
manual	O
assessment	O
by	O
an	O
instructor	O
or	O
proctor	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Also	O
called	O
speech	B-General_Concept
verification	I-General_Concept
,	O
pronunciation	O
evaluation	O
,	O
and	O
pronunciation	O
scoring	O
,	O
the	O
main	O
application	O
of	O
this	O
technology	O
is	O
computer-aided	O
pronunciation	O
teaching	O
(	O
CAPT	O
)	O
when	O
combined	O
with	O
computer-aided	O
instruction	O
for	O
computer-assisted	B-Application
language	I-Application
learning	I-Application
(	O
CALL	O
)	O
,	O
speech	O
remediation	O
,	O
or	O
accent	O
reduction	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Pronunciation	O
assessment	O
does	O
not	O
determine	O
unknown	O
speech	O
(	O
as	O
in	O
dictation	O
or	O
automatic	B-General_Concept
transcription	I-General_Concept
)	O
but	O
instead	O
,	O
knowing	O
the	O
expected	O
word(s )	O
in	O
advance	O
,	O
it	O
attempts	O
to	O
verify	O
the	O
correctness	O
of	O
the	O
learner	O
's	O
pronunciation	O
and	O
ideally	O
their	O
intelligibility	O
to	O
listeners	O
,	O
sometimes	O
along	O
with	O
often	O
inconsequential	O
prosody	O
such	O
as	O
intonation	O
,	O
pitch	O
,	O
tempo	B-Application
,	O
rhythm	O
,	O
and	O
stress	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Pronunciation	O
assessment	O
is	O
also	O
used	O
in	O
reading	O
tutoring	O
,	O
for	O
example	O
in	O
products	O
such	O
as	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Teams	I-Application
and	O
from	O
Amira	O
Learning	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
earliest	O
work	O
on	O
pronunciation	O
assessment	O
avoided	O
measuring	O
genuine	O
listener	O
intelligibility	O
,	O
a	O
shortcoming	O
corrected	O
in	O
2011	O
at	O
the	O
Toyohashi	O
University	O
of	O
Technology	O
,	O
and	O
included	O
in	O
the	O
Versant	O
high-stakes	O
English	O
fluency	O
assessment	O
from	O
Pearson	O
and	O
mobile	O
apps	O
from	O
17zuoye	O
Education	O
&	O
Technology	O
,	O
but	O
still	O
missing	O
in	O
2023	O
products	O
from	O
Google	B-Application
Search	I-Application
,	O
Microsoft	O
,	O
Educational	O
Testing	O
Service	O
,	O
Speechace	O
,	O
and	O
ELSA	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Such	O
evaluation	O
databases	O
often	O
emphasize	O
formally	O
unaccented	O
pronunciation	O
to	O
the	O
exclusion	O
of	O
genuine	O
intelligibility	O
evident	O
from	O
blinded	O
listener	O
transcriptions	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
promising	O
areas	O
for	O
improvement	O
being	O
developed	O
in	O
2023	O
include	O
articulatory	O
feature	B-Algorithm
extraction	I-Algorithm
and	O
transfer	B-General_Concept
learning	I-General_Concept
to	O
suppress	O
unnecessary	O
corrections	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
interesting	O
advances	O
under	O
development	O
include	O
"	O
augmented	B-General_Concept
reality	I-General_Concept
"	O
interfaces	O
for	O
mobile	O
devices	O
using	O
optical	B-Application
character	I-Application
recognition	I-Application
to	O
provide	O
pronunciation	O
training	O
on	O
text	O
found	O
in	O
user	O
environments	O
.	O
</s>
