5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the individual character traits comprise information defining a sex for the virtual host.
1. A method of providing a telephony voice user interface for a user comprising: presenting an input interface to enable the user to specify personality information comprising one or more individual character traits without regard to user interaction history; selecting a consistent personality for a virtual host based on the specified personality information, wherein the consistent personality defines adjustments to one or more user interaction features of the virtual host; storing, at a computing device, the individual character traits in a user profile having preference information for the user; and generating the virtual host with the consistent personality in accordance with the individual character traits, in addition to behavior of the virtual host modified by user interaction history.