An application of statistical detection theory to automatic speech recognition is presented. The multiple discriminant function approach is applied to the problem of vowel recognition. Twenty‐one speakers, 10 females and 11 males, produced 215 single vowel words, exemplifying ten different vowels. The linear discriminant function correctly labeled 87% of the utterances; the quadratic discriminant function correctly labeled 94%. It is pointed out that these detections were achieved without use of duration information and without explicit use of formant information.