Patent ID: 6999929

Claim:
Method for recognizing speech, wherein, for the process of recognition, a current acoustic model (CAM) based on a set of model function mixtures (MFM 1 , . . . , MFMn) is used, and wherein said current acoustic model (CAM) is adapted during the recognition process by changing at least in part the contributions of model function mixture components (MFMjk) of model function mixtures (MFMj) based on at least one recognition result already obtained, characterized in that the process of recognition is started using a starting acoustic model (SAM) as said current acoustic model (CAM), after a given number of performed recognition steps and/or after a given number of obtained recognition results, a modified acoustic model (MAM) is generated based on said current acoustic model (CAM) by canceling model function mixture components (MFMjk) having negligible contributions with respect to at least a given number of recognition results already obtained, and the process of recognition is continued using said modified acoustic model (MAM) as said current acoustic model (CAM) in each case.