11. A verbally responsive environmental condition detector comprising: a housing; at least one ambient condition sensor carried in the housing; speech recognition circuitry, carried in the housing and responsive to verbal input from a displaced source; control circuitry, coupled to the sensor, responsive to outputs therefrom to establish the presence of a predetermined alarm condition, the control circuitry is also coupled to the speech recognition circuitry and is responsive to recognized audible verbal input to implement a function corresponding to the audible verbal input, wherein a first received and recognized verbal command prepares the detector to receive and recognize at least a second verbal command; after reception and recognition of the first verbal command, if a second verbal command is not received and recognized within a preset time interval, the detector re-enters a waiting mode to receive a first verbal command; the sensor senses an indoor presence of an environmental condition in the ambient vicinity of the detector; an audio output transducer coupled to the control circuitry to emit an audible alarm when the sensor senses the environmental condition; the sensor comprises at least one of a smoke sensor, a fire sensor, a carbon monoxide sensor, a heat sensor, or a motion sensor; the housing contains at least the sensor, the control circuitry and the audio output transducer; and the detector is not connected to a centrally monitored alarm system.
11. A verbally responsive environmental condition detector comprising: a housing; at least one ambient condition sensor carried in the housing; speech recognition circuitry, carried in the housing and responsive to verbal input from a displaced source; control circuitry, coupled to the sensor, responsive to outputs therefrom to establish the presence of a predetermined alarm condition, the control circuitry is also coupled to the speech recognition circuitry and is responsive to recognized audible verbal input to implement a function corresponding to the audible verbal input, wherein a first received and recognized verbal command prepares the detector to receive and recognize at least a second verbal command; after reception and recognition of the first verbal command, if a second verbal command is not received and recognized within a preset time interval, the detector re-enters a waiting mode to receive a first verbal command; the sensor senses an indoor presence of an environmental condition in the ambient vicinity of the detector; an audio output transducer coupled to the control circuitry to emit an audible alarm when the sensor senses the environmental condition; the sensor comprises at least one of a smoke sensor, a fire sensor, a carbon monoxide sensor, a heat sensor, or a motion sensor; the housing contains at least the sensor, the control circuitry and the audio output transducer; and the detector is not connected to a centrally monitored alarm system. 14. A detector as in claim 11 where the control circuitry comprises a programmed processor.