With digital signal processing, ICs can synthesize speech

Until recently, manufacturers who wanted to make machines that appeared to talk relied on recordings of actual speech that played back through vinyl discs, CDs, cassette tapes or other recording mechanisms. Now however, developers have created ICs that synthesize speech, and these devices enjoy accelerating popularity, as a result of advances in digital signal processing (DSP) technology and success in lowering costs and expanding RAM and ROM capacities. This article describes the technologies underlying speech synthesis ICs and related issues, including market trends.