Computer Speech is an introduction to multimedia speech applications and is suitable for nonspecialists. It treats such contemporary subjects as automatic speech recognition and speaker verification for banking by computer and privileged (medical, military, diplomatic) information and control access. The book also focusses on speech and audio compression for mobile communication and the Internet. The importance of subjective quality criteria is stressed. A brief history of speech research summarizes the development from the first talking machines in rococo Europe to modern x-ray methods of articulatory analysis. The book also contains introductions to human monaural and binaural hearing, and the basic concepts of signal analysis.