A computer-implemented method is provided for training a hidden trajectory
model, of a speech recognition system, which generates Vocal Tract
Resonance (VTR) targets. The method includes obtaining generic VTR target
parameters corresponding to a generic speaker used by a target selector
to generate VTR target sequences. The generic VTR target parameters are
scaled for a particular speaker using a speaker-dependent scaling factor
for the particular speaker to generate speaker-adaptive VTR target
parameters. This scaling is performed for both the training data and the
test data, and for the training data, the scaling is performed
iteratively with the process of obtaining the generic targets. The
computation of the scaling factor makes use of the results of a VTR
tracker. The speaker-adaptive VTR target parameters for the particular
speaker are then stored in order to configure the hidden trajectory model
to perform speech recognition for the particular speaker using the
speaker-adaptive VTR target parameters.