Digital Speech Standard

Digital Speech Standard (DSS) is a proprietary compressed digital audio format defined by the International Voice Association, a co-operative venture by Olympus, Philips and Grundig. It was originally developed in 1994 by Philips and Grundig with the University of Nuremberg. In 1997, the digital speech standard was released, which was based on the previous codec. Its primary use is in digital dictation recorders. This file format is limited to basic recording functionality (such as recording, playing, rewinding, etc.) as well as the ability to record in either insert or overwrite mode. Essentially, file header information may include data such as priority mark, author, job type, etc.

DSS is a format designed specifically for speech, equivalent to MP3 for music.