System and method for speech recognition using tonal modeling

Abstract

A system and method for speaker independent speech recognition is provided that integrates spectral and tonal analysis in a sequential architecture. The system analyzes the spectral content of a spoken syllable, or group of syllables, (18) and generates a spectral score for each of a plurality of predicted syllables (46, 22). Time alignment information (36) for the predicted syllable(s) is then sequentially passed to a tonal modeling block (14) which performs an iterative fundamental frequency contour estimation for the spoken syllable(s). The tones of adjacent syllables, as well as the rate of change of the tonal information, is then used to generate a tonal score for each of the plurality of predicted syllables. The tonal score (34) is then arithmetically combined with (40) the spectral score (32) in order to generate an output prediction.