This thesis presents a simulation and performance evaluation of the Vector Sum Excited Linear Prediction Coder (VSELP). Recently there has been an incredible demand for personal communication services. To meet this demand various technologies have been developed. The U. S. digital cellular standard uses the 8 kbps VSELP speech coder to accommodate more users in the same bandwidth. This standard is currently being introduced in several markets. Performance evaluation of the speech coder in terms of speech quality is done for different channel conditions using the BERSIM simulation tool. Simulations for realistic channel conditions were performed using the SIRCIM simulation tool. Quantitative results in the form of mean squared error and qualitative results in the form of speech quality are presented. / Master of Science