To allow for bit errors to fade out and to allow (re)synchronization to an ongoing bitstream, the output register (which keeps the reference sample) is normally realized as a leaky integrator with a time constant (
The decoder reverses this process, starting with the reference sample, and adding or subtracting the step size according to the bit stream.
16 and 32 kbit/s CVSD were used by military TRI-TAC digital telephones (DNVT, DSVT) for use in deployed areas to provide voice recognition quality audio.
64 kbit/s CVSD is one of the options to encode voice signals in telephony-related Bluetooth service profiles; e.g., between mobile phones and wireless headsets.
The other options are PCM with logarithmic a-law or μ-law quantization, as well as mSBC codec featuring 16 kHz sample rate and best quality.
Numerous arcade games, such as Sinistar and Smash TV, and pinball machines, such as Gorgar or Space Shuttle, play pre-recorded speech through an HC-55516 CVSD decoder.