On Fri, 15 Jul 2016 13:17:48 -0400, BPVeW???????? ? ?????????fZSSO
wrote:

Ed Huntress wrote on 7/15/2016 12:24 PM:
On Fri, 15 Jul 2016 10:54:13 -0500, Tim Wescott
wrote:

On Fri, 15 Jul 2016 11:40:47 -0400, Ed Huntress wrote:

Here's one for the digital experts: I do a lot of interviews in which
the other party is on a cell phone, and I think I've noticed a
difference over time in how they work.

If the call is conducted at a busy time of day, and there are clear
signs of bandwidth becoming limited, it used to be that there would be a
corresponding number of dropouts in the conversation. Lately (and I call
mostly the Chicago and Los Angeles areas) I've detected something
different: it sounds like they're just reducing the audio bitrate. It
starts to sound like it's coming from a cheap microphone.

Does anyone know?

I don't, but cruddy audio + dropouts is worse than just cruddy audio, so
there'd certainly be pressure on the equipment manufacturers to make the
change.

Yeah, well, the cruddy audio is something I've just noticed over the
past year. The dropouts have been going on for years.

Chicago, particularly, seems to have bandwidth problems on both
landlines and cell systems. I try to time my calls for early morning.
If I do, the audio is perfectly clear.

It's gotten to be a problem for my transcribing service. Not knowing
our jargon, they have a really hard time with it when it gets muddy.

In the beginning cellphones were all analogue. The sound quality can
vary due to distance between the cellphone and the cellphone tower.

Today cellphones have almost all gone digital. You cannot buy an
analogue cellphone anymore and even if you still have an analogue
cellphone you might not be able to find a service provide which still
runs the old analogue cellphone systems.

Digital cellphone system is almost like digital TV. You either get it
100% or you don't get it at all, because the signals are all in ones and
zeros.

The difference in sound quality is most likely due use of "Voice over
IP" (people dialing you using Skype or other WiFi connection Apps to
avoid airtime charges), or use of low quality Bluetooth headset when
talking to you (most cellphones have built-in Bluetooth technology).

VoIP is a frequent problem in recording for articles. That's why I
still have a conventional landline at my end, recording directly into
the computer. But I also use my cell phone with an earbud microphone
into my Sony digital recorder -- the difference is almost
undetectable.I don't bother with the in-line adapter on a cell phone
anymore.

Having played with different bit rates over the years, it really does
sound like a bit-rate reduction to me. I don't think my interviewees
are using Bluetooth. I never use it for anything that has to be
transcribed, myself.

Ah, well, it's not something that seriously bothers me because it only
happens once in a while. I was thinking about it today because I had
to transcribe a half-hour conversation myself (which I hate to do),
because my transcribing service couldn't make it out. They have a good
collection of audio filters, but they couldn't do it. I could, because
I know what the other guy was saying.

--
Ed Huntress