Generally, the present invention determines and uses spectral peak information,
which preferably augments feature vectors and creates augmented feature vectors.
The augmented feature vectors decrease errors in pattern recognition, increase
noise immunity for wide-band noise, and reduce reliance on noisy formant features.
Illustratively, one way of determining spectral peak information is to split pattern
data into a number of frequency ranges and determine spectral peak information
for each of the frequency ranges. This allows single peak selection. All of the
spectral peak information is then used to augment a feature vector. Another way
of determining spectral peak information is to use an adaptive Infinite Impulse
Response filter to provide this information. Additionally, the present invention
can determine and use incremental information. The incremental information is relatively
easy to calculate and helps to determine if additional or changed features are
worthwhile. The incremental information is preferably determined by determining
a difference between mutual information (between the feature vector and the classes
to be disambiguated) for new or changed feature vectors and mutual information
for old feature vectors.
