Fast, language-independent method for user authentication by voice

A method of speech-based user authentication, comprising:

• at a device having one or more processors and memory:
• receiving a plurality of different spoken utterances from a user;
• for each of the plurality of different spoken utterances:
• generating a respective phoneme-independent representation from the spoken utterance, the respective phoneme-independent representation including a respective spectral signature for each of a plurality of frames sampled from the spoken utterance;
• and
• decomposing the respective phoneme-independent representation to obtain a content-independent recognition unit for the user;
• calculating a content-independent recognition distribution value for the user based on the respective content-independent recognition units generated from the plurality of different spoken utterances;
• and
• providing the content-independent recognition distribution value for use in a speaker authentication process.