Re: final yr project
if its a final year project then i would personally recommend that you dont make a MATLAB simulation. because no matter what, a simulation is just that - a simulation. if you want to do it in software then try to use VC++. download the speech sdk from microsoft's website and read the documentation.
if you want to do it in hardware then you can use either Analog DSPs or TI DSPs. thats a personal choice. you can make the design in MATLAB or in CCS (for TI) or in VisualDSP++ (for ADSP) and then program your DSP.
i hope that helps