1. A speech processing device for use in a distributed voice recognition system comprising: a sound processing circuit adapted to receive a speech utterance and to generate associated speech utterance signals therefrom; and a first signal processing circuit adapted to generate a first set of speech data values from said speech utterance signals, said first set of speech data values being insufficient by themselves for permitting recognition of words articulated in said speech utterance; and a transmission circuit for formatting and transmitting said first set of speech data values over a communications channel to a second signal processing circuit; wherein said first set of speech data values can be sent in a data stream over said channel, during periods when silence is not detected, to a second signal processing circuit which can perform a full recognition of said words.