> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://api-docs.speechace.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://api-docs.speechace.com/api-reference/score-phone-list.md).

# Score Phone List

{% hint style="warning" %}
**Use** [**Score Word**](/api-reference/score-word.md) **instead.** Score Word scores a single word or non-word from a phoneme sequence using `arpa_mark`, and is the recommended replacement for Score Phone List. This endpoint is retained for existing integrations — to convert an existing `phone_list` call, see [Replacing Score Phone List](/api-reference/score-word.md#replacing-score-phone-list) on the Score Word page.
{% endhint %}

{% hint style="info" %}
**Run in Postman:** [Score Phone List](https://docs.speechace.com/#d3d86348-4d1e-4ecb-a991-778f037f5f12)
{% endhint %}

The Score Phone List API scores a sequence of phonemes that make up any word or non-word. Individual words such as “Gotcha” — American vernacular that is not a valid dictionary word — can be scored by supplying their phonemes. Phonemes are expressed in [ARPABET notation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arpabet), pipe-separated.

### Request Format

The endpoint you use depends on the [region](/getting-started/api-regions-and-endpoints.md) of your subscription. For example, for US West the endpoint is <https://api.speechace.co>.

`POST` [`https://api.speechace.co/api/scoring/phone_list/v9/json`](https://api.speechace.co/api/scoring/phone_list/v9/json)

### Query Parameters

<table><thead><tr><th width="146">Parameter</th><th width="89">Type</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>key</td><td>String</td><td><em>API</em> <a href="/getting-started/authentication.md"><em>key</em></a> <em>issued by Speechace.</em></td></tr><tr><td>dialect</td><td>String</td><td><em>This is the</em> <a href="/getting-started/supported-languages.md"><em>dialect</em></a> <em>to be scored. Supported only for en-us and en-gb</em></td></tr><tr><td>user_id</td><td>String</td><td><em><strong>Optional</strong>: A unique anonymized identifier for the end-user who spoke the audio.</em></td></tr></tbody></table>

### Request Body

<table><thead><tr><th width="240">Parameter</th><th width="98">Type</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>phone_list</td><td>String</td><td><em>A phoneme list to score. For example:</em> <code>g|ao|ch|ah</code></td></tr><tr><td>user_audio_file</td><td>File</td><td><em>file with user audio (wav, mp3, m4a, webm, ogg, aiff).</em></td></tr><tr><td>question_info</td><td>String</td><td><em><strong>Optional flag</strong>: A unique identifier (generated by your application) for the activity or question this user audio is answering.</em></td></tr></tbody></table>

### Request Examples

<table><thead><tr><th width="220">Example</th><th width="320">Request Body Parameters</th><th>When to use</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Score a phoneme list</td><td><code>phone_list="g|ao|ch|ah"</code><br><code>user_audio_file=gotcha.wav</code></td><td><em>Score how closely the audio matches a pipe-separated ARPABET phoneme sequence.</em></td></tr></tbody></table>

### Response Example

The response contains `word_score.phone_score_list[]` — one entry per phoneme, each with its own `quality_score`, `extent` (start/end), and `sound_most_like` (the phone the speaker's sound most resembled).

{% code overflow="wrap" lineNumbers="true" expandable="true" %}

```json
{
  "status": "success",
  "quota_remaining": -1,
  "word_score": {
    "word": "g|ao|ch|ah",
    "quality_score": 97,
    "phone_score_list": [
      {
        "phone": "g",
        "stress_level": null,
        "extent": [
          51,
          60
        ],
        "quality_score": 100,
        "sound_most_like": "g"
      },
      {
        "phone": "ao",
        "stress_level": null,
        "extent": [
          60,
          72
        ],
        "quality_score": 91,
        "sound_most_like": "ao"
      },
      {
        "phone": "ch",
        "stress_level": null,
        "extent": [
          72,
          87
        ],
        "quality_score": 100,
        "sound_most_like": "ch"
      },
      {
        "phone": "ah",
        "stress_level": null,
        "extent": [
          87,
          102
        ],
        "quality_score": 96,
        "sound_most_like": "ah"
      }
    ]
  },
  "version": "9.0"
}
```

{% endcode %}

The interpretation of `phone_score_list` is the same as in [Score Text](/api-reference/score-text.md).