System and method for sorting letters, parcels, and other items of mail

A system for assisting an operator in sorting mail, comprising:

• a wireless headset including a microphone for translating a verbal statement from the operator into speech signals;
• a speech recognition unit which recognizes addressee information corresponding to an item of mail from said speech signals;
• a database which stores records corresponding to a plurality of addressees, each of said records including destination information for a respective one of said addressees;
• a processing unit which searches the database for at least one record matching the addressee information recognized by said speech recognition unit;
• and
• an output unit which outputs results of said database search to the operator, said operator sorting the item of mail based on the destination information included the at least one matching record.