Computationally efficient method and apparatus for speaker recognition

A method for recognizing a speaker, comprising the steps of:

• extracting features from one or more enrollment utterances to generate a target speaker model based on a sample covariance matrix generated from said extracted enrollment features;
• extracting features from one or more test utterances to generate a test utterance model based on a sample covariance matrix generated from said extracted test features;
• and
• computing a normalized similarity score that compares said test utterance model to said target speaker model and to a background model.

An apparatus for recognizing a speaker, comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• at least one processor, coupled to the memory, operative to:
• extract features from one or more enrollment utterances to generate a target speaker model based on a sample covariance matrix generated from said extracted enrollment features;
• extract features from one or more test utterances to generate a test utterance model based on a sample covariance matrix generated from said extracted test features;
• and
• compute a sphericity ratio to recognize said speaker, said sphericity ratio comparing said test utterance model to said target speaker model and to a background model.

An article of manufacture for recognizing a speaker, comprising a machine readable medium containing one or more programs which when executed implement the steps of:

• extracting features from one or more enrollment utterances to generate a target speaker model based on a sample covariance matrix generated from said extracted enrollment features;
• extracting features from one or more test utterances to generate a test utterance model based on a sample covariance matrix generated from said extracted test features;
• and
• computing a sphericity ratio to recognize said speaker, said sphericity ratio comparing said test utterance model to said target speaker model and to a background model.