A digital signal processor (DSP) is a type of microprocessor - one that is incredibly fast and powerful. A DSP is unique because it processes data in real time. This real-time capability makes a DSP perfect for applications where we won't tolerate any delays. For example, did you ever talk on a cell phone where two people couldn't talk at once? You had to wait until the other person was through talking. If you both spoke simultaneously, the signal was cut out - you didn't hear the other person. With today's digital cell phones, which use DSP, you can talk normally. The DSP chips inside cell phones can process sounds so rapidly you can hear something as quickly as you can say it - in real time. Staying with the same example, older cell phones used to have an echo. In digital cell phones, there is no echo, and no static. The DSP takes a real-world signal, like sound, and mathematically alters it to improve the sound. The DSP compresses the data (your voice) and removes the background noise so your voice travels at a higher rate. The result is crystal clear sound, with no annoying echoes. That's a basic explanation of what a DSP does. It takes a digital signal and processes it to improve the signal. The improvement may be clearer sound, sharper images, or faster data. And that ability to improve signals is making new breakthroughs such as Internet music and broadband to the home possible.