Abstract: In an embodiment of the invention, a speaker/microphone peripheral includes a digital-signal-processor (DSP) based acoustic echo canceler and supports a plurality of modes of operation. One mode is a video/telecommunications mode. In this mode, when headphones are inserted or removed, the acoustic echo canceler is reset.

Abstract: A personal computer (PC) incorporates a speaker/microphone peripheral, which includes a digital-signal-processor (DSP) based acoustic echo canceler and supports a plurality of modes of operation. One mode is a video/telecommunications mode. In this mode, the acoustic echo canceler is enabled and the speaker/microphone peripheral provides a monaural dual speaker and microphone for use in video, internet telephony, etc., communications. Another mode of operation is a multi-media, or wide-band stereo, mode. In this multi-media mode, the acoustic echo canceler is disabled and the stereo loudspeakers provides high fidelity stereo output signals. In addition, in this latter arrangement an optional sub-woofer may be additionally coupled to the stereo loudspeakers. The speaker/microphone peripheral switches between the operating modes by detecting a predefined sequence of dual-tone-multi-frequency (DTMF) digits. The DTMF sequences are played from wave-type files stored on the PC.