A method and apparatus for providing personalized information content over
telephones is described. The creation of a voice portal is supported by
the invention. Embodiments of the invention use telephone identifying
information such as the calling party's number to identify, or create,
user profiles for customization. The personalized content is specific to
that user based on her/his telephone identifying information and may be
further customized based on the current time, current date, the calling
party's locales, and/or the calling party's dialect and speech patterns.
In some embodiments, the dialect is selected from a range of common
American English dialects according to the locale of the calling party.
For example, callers from the Northern Midland will automatically hear a
Northern Midland dialect, while callers from the Coastal Southeast will
hear that dialect, etc. Individuals can change the dialect to better suit
their personal tastes.