1. A sampling-rate-independent method of automated speech recognition (ASR), comprising the steps of: comparing speech energies of a plurality of codebooks generated from training data created at an ASR sampling rate to speech energies in a current frame of acoustic data generated from received audio from which speech is to be recognized and that was created at an audio sampling rate below the ASR sampling rate, wherein the comparing step is carried out using a processor; selecting from the plurality of codebooks, a codebook having speech energies that correspond to speech energies in the current frame over a spectral range corresponding to the audio sampling rate; copying from the selected codebook, speech energies above the spectral range; appending the copied speech energies to the current frame; extracting acoustic features from the appended current frame; and decoding the extracted acoustic features to recognize the speech.