Adhearsion is a new open source framework for building voice-enabled applications. It aims to reduce friction compared to existing proprietary standards by being designed for modern web development. Key features include being fully open source, supporting multimodal apps, exposing and consuming web services, an intuitive domain-specific language, ORM database support, and full use of Ruby and Java. It works by integrating with FreeSwitch and plans full support in a future version, and includes components like Dialplan.rb for call flow control and Events.rb for managing telephony events. Examples presented include rapid development of enterprise voice apps, a wireless and broadcast television mashup, and enabling AJAX apps with voice.