A voice engine is a software subsystem for bidirectional audio communication, typically used as part of a telecommunications system to simulate a

telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...

. It functions like a data pump for audio data, specifically voice data. The voice engine is typically used in an

embedded system An embedded system is a computer system—a combination of a computer processor, computer memory, and input/output peripheral devices—that has a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or electronic system. It is ''embedded ...

. The term became popularized after 2000 with the proliferation of

voice over internet protocol Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet t ...

technology in software DSP systems. Voice engines handle the voice processing for an

IP Phone A VoIP phone or IP phone uses voice over IP technologies for placing and transmitting telephone calls over an IP network, such as the Internet. This is in contrast to a standard phone which uses the traditional public switched telephone network ...

system on a standard processor, compared to prior generations of systems which required dedicated, math-optimized

digital signal processor A digital signal processor (DSP) is a specialized microprocessor chip, with its architecture optimized for the operational needs of digital signal processing. DSPs are fabricated on MOS integrated circuit chips. They are widely used in audio s ...

chips. Voice engines are highly optimized software subsystems due to the mathematically complex signal processing required for voice filtering and

speech coding Speech coding is an application of data compression of digital audio signals containing speech. Speech coding uses speech-specific parameter estimation using audio signal processing techniques to model the speech signal, combined with generic d ...

. The filter stages and coding elements within a voice engine are designed to work in conjunction with a larger telecommunications system, including only a specific and limited range of processing to minimize the voice engine's memory size and processor usage. Compared to software desktop applications which might employ plugins to continually add flexibility or extensibility, a voice engine is designed to meet specific industry standards for

interoperability Interoperability is a characteristic of a product or system to work with other products or systems. While the term was initially defined for information technology or systems engineering services to allow for information exchange, a broader defi ...

References

{{Computer-mediated communication Broadband Voice over IP