Systems and methods consistent with the present invention determine whether to accept one of a plurality of intermediate recognition results output by a speech recognition system as a final recognition result. The system first combines a plurality of speech rejection features into a feature function in which weights are assigned to each rejection feature in accordance with a recognition accuracy of each rejection feature. Feature values are then calculated for each of the rejection features using the plurality of intermediate recognition results. The system next computes the feature function according to the calculated feature values to determine a rejection decision value. Finally, one of the plurality of intermediate recognition results is accepted as the final recognition result according to the rejection decision value.