1. A method for recognizing speech in acoustic data, comprising: developing a selected word list; determining an insertion threshold value for each word on the selected word list; determining a substitution threshold value for each word on the selected word list; conducting a tuning phase on each word to provide an occurrence distribution in WCS for such situations as: word is correctly identified, word is substituted, and word is inserted; generating at least one hypothetical word (HYP) in a decoder; deriving a word confidence score (WCS) for each HYP; and determining a modified hypothetical word (mHYP) for each HYP based on the HYP and the WCS for each HYP; wherein the insertion and substitution threshold values are based at least in part on WCS occurrence distributions.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein mHYP is a substituted HYP when HYP is on the selected word list, the WCS is less than the HYP's substitution threshold value, and WCS is greater than the HYP's insertion threshold value.