Speaker-adaptive connected syllable recognition based on the multiple similarity method

A new method for accurately recognizing Japanese connected syllables is presented. The method employs both continuous pattern matching and speaker adaptation, based on the Multiple Similarity (MS) method. In the pattern matching, similarity value calculation and acoustic labeling are carried out continuously on a frame by frame basis. They are utilized to achieve a reliable segmentation and recognition for connected syllables. The speaker adaptation depends on the reference pattern modification, whose initial versions are speaker-independent. The vowel and consonant reference patterns are produced through the covariance matrices using K-L expansion. Recognition experiments were carried out for 101 Japanese syllables spoken by ten males at the speed of 3 to 4 syllables per second. The score was 91.4% for 9230 syllables in 4400 Japanese phrases.