Programmable telephone amplifier circuit interface

Apparatus for interfacing a two-way voice communication instrument to a communication link, comprising:

• a signal conditioning circuit programmable to provide a selected signal conditioning characteristic to an electrical voice signal being passed between a voice communication instrument and a communication link;
• a connector receptacle coupled to the signal conditioning circuit and having electrical contact elements;
• a connector plug to be coupled to a voice communication instrument and to be mated with the connector receptacle, the connector plug having electrical contact elements to engage contact elements in the connector receptacle;
• and
• means carried by the connector plug for programming the signal conditioning circuit.

A two-way voice communication system for coupling to a communication link, comprising:

• a voice communication instrument including a microphone, for producing electrical voice signals, and a receive transducer, for converting received electrical voice signals to audible sound;
• an interface module including a signal conditioning circuit having a transmit signal channel and a receive signal channel, the circuit being programmable to selectively establish signal conditioning characteristics of at least one of the channels;
• a first wired connection adapted to couple the transmit and receive signal channels to a communication link;
• a second wired connection coupling the transmit signal channel to the microphone and coupling the receive channel to the receive transducer;
• a connector interposed in the second wire connection having mating electrical contact elements, a first group of the contact elements providing coupling of the transmit and receive channels to the microphone and receive transducer and a second group of the contact elements being connected to a potential to provide electrical input signals to program the signal conditioning circuit.