28. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions comprising: instructions for receiving specified personality information comprising one or more individual character traits without regard to user interaction history; instructions for determining a consistent personality for a virtual host based on the specified personality information, wherein the individual character traits are specified by an end user of a telephony voice interface; instructions for storing the individual character traits in a profile having preference information; and instructions for generating the virtual host with the consistent personality in accordance with the individual character traits, wherein the consistent personality specifies adjustments to one or more user interaction features of the virtual host, in addition to behavior of the virtual host modified by user interaction history.
28. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions comprising: instructions for receiving specified personality information comprising one or more individual character traits without regard to user interaction history; instructions for determining a consistent personality for a virtual host based on the specified personality information, wherein the individual character traits are specified by an end user of a telephony voice interface; instructions for storing the individual character traits in a profile having preference information; and instructions for generating the virtual host with the consistent personality in accordance with the individual character traits, wherein the consistent personality specifies adjustments to one or more user interaction features of the virtual host, in addition to behavior of the virtual host modified by user interaction history. 34. The storage medium of claim 28 , wherein the individual character traits comprise information defining a formality level of a conversational style for the virtual host.