3. In a speech analysis system in which an audio signal is spectrum analyzed for recognizing at least one predetermined keyword in a continuous audio signal, each said keyword being characterized by a template having at least one target pattern, said target patterns having an ordered sequence and each target pattern representing a plurality of short-term power spectra spaced apart in real time, an analysis method comprising the steps of repeatedly evaluating electrical signals representing a set of parameters determining a short-term power spectrum of said audio signal with each of a plurality of equal duration sampling intervals, thereby to generate a continuous time ordered sequence of short-term audio power spectrum frames, repeatedly generating electrical signals representing a peak spectrum corresponding to said short-term power spectrum frames by a fast attack, slow decay peak detecting function, for each short-term power spectrum frame, dividing the amplitude of each frequency band by the corresponding intensity value in the corresponding peak spectrum, thereby to generate a frequency band equalized spectrum frame corresponding to a compensated audio signal having the same maximum short-term energy content in each of the frequency bands comprising the spectrum, repeatedly selecting from said sequence of equalized frames, one first frame and at least one later occurring frame to form a multi-frame pattern, comparing each thus formed multi-frame pattern with each first target pattern of each keyword template, deciding whether each said multi-frame pattern corresponds to a said first target pattern of a keyword template, for each multi-frame pattern which, according to said deciding step, corresponds to a said first target pattern of a potential candidate keyword, selecting later occurring short-term power spectrum equalized frames to form later occurring multiframe patterns, deciding whether said later occurring multi-frame patterns correspond respectively to successive target patterns of said potential candidate keyword template, and identifying electrical signals representing a candidate keyword template when said selected multi-frame patterns correspond respectively to the target patterns of a said keyword template.
3. In a speech analysis system in which an audio signal is spectrum analyzed for recognizing at least one predetermined keyword in a continuous audio signal, each said keyword being characterized by a template having at least one target pattern, said target patterns having an ordered sequence and each target pattern representing a plurality of short-term power spectra spaced apart in real time, an analysis method comprising the steps of repeatedly evaluating electrical signals representing a set of parameters determining a short-term power spectrum of said audio signal with each of a plurality of equal duration sampling intervals, thereby to generate a continuous time ordered sequence of short-term audio power spectrum frames, repeatedly generating electrical signals representing a peak spectrum corresponding to said short-term power spectrum frames by a fast attack, slow decay peak detecting function, for each short-term power spectrum frame, dividing the amplitude of each frequency band by the corresponding intensity value in the corresponding peak spectrum, thereby to generate a frequency band equalized spectrum frame corresponding to a compensated audio signal having the same maximum short-term energy content in each of the frequency bands comprising the spectrum, repeatedly selecting from said sequence of equalized frames, one first frame and at least one later occurring frame to form a multi-frame pattern, comparing each thus formed multi-frame pattern with each first target pattern of each keyword template, deciding whether each said multi-frame pattern corresponds to a said first target pattern of a keyword template, for each multi-frame pattern which, according to said deciding step, corresponds to a said first target pattern of a potential candidate keyword, selecting later occurring short-term power spectrum equalized frames to form later occurring multiframe patterns, deciding whether said later occurring multi-frame patterns correspond respectively to successive target patterns of said potential candidate keyword template, and identifying electrical signals representing a candidate keyword template when said selected multi-frame patterns correspond respectively to the target patterns of a said keyword template. 4. The method of claim 3 wherein generating said peak spectrum further includes the step of selecting the value of each of the peak spectrum frequency bands from the maximum of (a) the current peak spectrum value multiplied by a constant decay factor having a value less than one, and (b) the incoming new spectrum frame value.