Bayesian learning for hidden Markov model with Gaussian mixture state observation densities

Abstract An investigation into the use of Bayesian learning of the parameters of a multivariate Gaussian mixture density has been carried out. In a framework of continuous density hidden Markov model (CDHMM), Bayesian learning serves as a unified approach for parameter smoothing, speaker adaptation, speaker clustering and corrective training. The goal is to enhance model robustness in a CDHMM-based speech recognition system so as to improve performance. Our approach is to use Bayesian learning to incorporate prior knowledge into the training process in the form of prior densities of the HMM parameters. The theoretical basis for this procedure is presented and results applying it to parameter smoothing, speaker adaptation, speaker clustering and corrective training are given.