4 ms·

The article also mentioned the difficult-to-distinguish aurally "B" (Bravo) and "P" (Papa). But it did not mention the most similar-sounding pair "F" (Foxtrot)

by toss1 3y ago

The article also mentioned the difficult-to-distinguish aurally "B" (Bravo) and "P" (Papa). But it did not mention the most similar-sounding pair "F" (Foxtrot) and "S" (Sierra), which are nearly indistinguishable. While one could use the NATO/Aviation standard alphabet (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta...), unless you have a very specifically constrained customer base,it won't help much. Best to also avoid those combinations. Definitely better to have a slightly longer ID_String and maximal ability to read and speak/hear the characters. It'll save FAR more time and aggravation.

saltcured 3y ago
There are many of these ambiguous pairs: B/P, F/S, D/T, M/N, Q/U, ... The end-to-end transmission can get really bad when you combine several different filter stages, such as a speaker's mouth being injured or obscured, a narrow channel like telephone or radio, noise, and a listener's ear losing parts of the spectrum. As the sound transmission gets worse, you can get more rhyming ambiguities. Effectively, the consonants are lost in a bad channel and only the vowels come through. In an American English accent, I think these are the groups corresponding to different vowel sounds: A/H/J/K, B/C/D/E/G/P/T/V/Z, I/Y, O, Q/U, F/L/M/N/S/X, R. "W" stands alone with multiple syllables. Depending on the kind of transmission problem, these groups can start to split apart into smaller subgroups based on which of their sonic differences make it through to the listener.
TacticalCoder 3y ago
> But it did not mention the most similar-sounding pair "F" (Foxtrot) and "S" (Sierra), which are nearly indistinguishable. My family name begins with a 'F' and, indeed, I can't count the number of times where people write a 'S' instead. I've got invoices with a 'S' instead of a 'F'!

4 ms·

The article also mentioned the difficult-to-distinguish aurally "B" (Bravo) and "P" (Papa). But it did not mention the most similar-sounding pair "F" (Foxtrot)

by toss1 3y ago

saltcured 3y ago
There are many of these ambiguous pairs: B/P, F/S, D/T, M/N, Q/U, ... The end-to-end transmission can get really bad when you combine several different filter stages, such as a speaker's mouth being injured or obscured, a narrow channel like telephone or radio, noise, and a listener's ear losing parts of the spectrum. As the sound transmission gets worse, you can get more rhyming ambiguities. Effectively, the consonants are lost in a bad channel and only the vowels come through. In an American English accent, I think these are the groups corresponding to different vowel sounds: A/H/J/K, B/C/D/E/G/P/T/V/Z, I/Y, O, Q/U, F/L/M/N/S/X, R. "W" stands alone with multiple syllables. Depending on the kind of transmission problem, these groups can start to split apart into smaller subgroups based on which of their sonic differences make it through to the listener.
TacticalCoder 3y ago
> But it did not mention the most similar-sounding pair "F" (Foxtrot) and "S" (Sierra), which are nearly indistinguishable. My family name begins with a 'F' and, indeed, I can't count the number of times where people write a 'S' instead. I've got invoices with a 'S' instead of a 'F'!