Abstract: A method and system of identifying and spotting segments containing key information in voice messages. The method can be used to spot a key segment such as a name segment in a voice message by detecting and verifying the presence of a phrase such as “My name is . . . ” or “This is . . . ”. Once the key segment of interest has been spotted, the method provides the user with only the pertinent information (e.g., the name of the caller), which is contained in the key segment. This allows a user retrieving a message to hear just a desired section or sections of a message without listening to the rest of the message.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for authenticating a user using verbal information verification techniques. The user is challenged with one or more questions that the user has previously answered. A user's spoken utterances are first processed using automatic speech recognition techniques, and optionally utterance verification techniques. The recognized text that has been extracted from the user's spoken words is compared with the information recorded in a user profile corresponding to the answers provided by the user during the enrollment phase, using word spotting techniques. If the user's spoken answer is correct, the user may obtain access to a protected resource. If the user's spoken answer provided during verification deviates from the answer that was provided during enrollment, the disclosed verbal input verification server can still correctly recognize the answer.