The generation of voice output by computer. Voice response systems deliver prerecorded information over the telephone with or without interaction by the caller. The voice is typically segments of digitized human voice that are strung together to make sentences, but it could also be synthesized voice. As the technology matures, totally synthetic voices sound more natural. Interactive voice response systems may provide personalized information for callers by providing access to databases (see
IVR). See
text-to-speech.