1. A voice actuated control system for controlling appliances comprising: a microphone for receiving audio signals; a speech recognition system for receiving audio signals; said speech recognition system having a low power sound activation mode for detecting the presence of audio signals and a speech recognition mode for decoding said audio signals and generating control signals for controlling one or more appliances, said speech recognition system including a circuit for switching between said sound activation mode and a speech recognition mode as a function of the amplitude of said audio signals; and an appliance control circuit which includes a transmitter, said appliance control unit for receiving said control signals from said speech recognition system and generating and transmitting an appliance control signal to a selected appliance.