Voice broadcasting is a mass communication technique, begun in the 1990s,[dubious – discuss] that broadcasts telephone messages to hundreds or thousands of call recipients at once. This technology has both commercial and community applications. Voice broadcast users can contact targets (whether they be members, subscribers, constituents, employees, or customers) almost immediately. When used by government authorities, it may be known as an emergency notification system (since such notifications are intended only for use in emergencies).
Voice broadcast systems manage a database of phone lists as well as digitally recorded phone messages. Using telephony components, these computers can simultaneously broadcast thousands of phone messages. Personalized information can be included in the phone messages through the integration of text-to-speech software.
Advanced systems include telephony boards with answering-machine detection, and the logic to properly play a unique message to answering machines without message truncation.