Abstract: In a switching system for connecting a call between a calling station and a called station, a system and method of voice recognition using a concentrated or distributed multiplicity of voice recognition and other resources with a facility for selecting an initial resource on the calling station going off-hook by accessing a demographic database and a biometric database using common channel signaling and selecting a prompt to be delivered to the caller from a multiplicity of preselected prompts and reacting to a response by the caller with further addressing of database information to continue to select from said multiplicity of resources the most appropriate resource or resources in reaction to caller utterances. According to another feature the selection of resources is aided by optical means at the calling station delivering information regarding characteristics of the caller including lip movement to permit lip reading.