To provide an apparatus and a method for automatic vocal answering that facilitates management of grammar and dictionaries and can answer faithfully to an inputted speech.

The automatic vocal answering apparatus comprises a voice recognition processing part 1, an interaction processing part 2 which generates prompt information, a voice synthesis processing part 3 which performs voice synthesis processing, and a common reading database 12 in which a plurality of words are registered together with readings for voice recognition and readings for voice synthesis. The voice recognition processing part 1 is made to generate recognition information including an identifier for specifying the reading for voice synthesis of a word registered in the common reading database 12. The interaction processing part 2 is made to extract the reading for voice synthesis of the recognized word according to the identifier and generate prompt information including the extracted reading for voice synthesis.

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