A speech path is, broadly, a transmission path that exists between a talker’s mouth and the ear of a listener or, in the case of sidetone, between the mouth and ear of a talker.
ITU-T P.75-1989 history
1989ITU-T P.75-1989 Standard Conditioning Method for Handsets with Carbon Microphones - Telephone Transmission Quality (Study Group XII) 1 pp