An apparatus for enhancing speech sounds includes an input circuit for receiving speech sounds and for converting said speech into a speech signal; a rectifier for rectifying the speech signal; a first time constant circuit for applying a first time constant to the output of the rectifier; a second time constant circuit for applying a second time constant to the output of the rectifier; a divider for obtaining the ratio of the output of the first time constant circuit to the output of the second time constant circuit; a multiplier for multiplying the speech signal by the ratio obtained by the divider; and an output circuit for converting the output of the multiplier into speech sounds.