Abstract: The distance computation represents a central, constantly recurrent task in sample and speech recognition. It is used in speech recognition as a degree of similarity between a part of a speech utterance and a speech reference. In picture processing and sample recognition, it is used for data compression (MPEG). The distance computation requires the longest computation time so that a reduction of the computation time results in a considerable efficiency improvement. A reduction of the computation time is achieved by the integration of the distance computation in a memory module (1) in which particularly the reference data are stored. Due to this integration, the other components (2, 3, 4) of the overall system are relieved of this constantly recurrent task and are available for more complex processes in this period of time.