Pronunciation practice support system for children who have difficulty correctly pronouncing words

We developed a system with which children who have difficulty correctly pronouncing words to practice their pronunciation. It allows exercises to be individually tailored to each child’s pronunciation needs. Three speech evaluation methods were prepared for each type of presented words: automatic speech recognition, phonemic discrimination between the correct and the probable error pronunciation of a consonant period and articulation tests from speech-languagehearing therapists. For 3 or 4 months, we performed practical field tests with nine students in special support education classes in four elementary schools. In the tests, we realized medical-educational-engineering collaboration and the technical support of local-community volunteers.