On the Feasibility of Voice Input to an On-line Computer Processing System An on-line digital computer processing system is considered in which an ordinary telephone is the complete terminal device, input to the computer being provided as a sequence of spoken words, and output to the user being audio responses from the machine. The feasibility of implementing such a system with a FORTRAN-like algebraic compiler as the object processor is considered. Details of a specific word recognition program are given. This technique depends on three simplifying restrictions, namely, a "small" vocabulary set, "known" speakers, and a "moment of silence" between each input word. Experimental results are presented giving error rates for different experimental conditions as well as the machine resources required to accommodate several users at a time. The results show that at this time it is both economically and logically feasible to handle at least 40 users at a time with an IBM 360/65 computer. CACM June, 1970 Elder, H. A. speech recognition, word recognition, pattern-matching, pattern recognition, time-sharing, remote access, voice input, speech input, telephone input/output, acoustic signal, spoken-word input, talking to computers, man-machine interaction 3.63 3.81 4.32 4.41 6.35 CA700601 JB February 13, 1978 12:12 PM 2054 4 2054 1544 5 2054 2054 5 2054 2054 5 2054 2054 5 2054