So, if you’re feeling ambitious and want to hear some weirdly soothing sentences on your phone, give it a call at (858) 651-5050. I discovered this number through a testing tool provided by T-Mobile, and it’s pretty much the most poetic, automated thing I’ve ever heard. This number is just one of many test numbers that you’ll find hanging around, and they tend to exist to help phone companies make your service better. So why is there this number just hanging out there, with some random Harvard Sentences being spouted off at all times of day? Well, it’s an easy way to test your mobile phone quality-the “can you hear me now” guys at Verizon and other companies rely on these things to ensure the signal quality is strong. The idea was to test how much a person could mishear before they lost the meaning of a sentence. Some garbled version of the sentences would be played on tape, and volunteers attempted to make sense of what they heard. The sentences are deliberately simple and short-monosyllabic words punctuated by exactly one two syllable word sentence. Sarah Zhang, who wrote an excellent piece on the phenomenon for Gizmodo last year, notes that Harvard researchers focused on the audio testing capabilities of the sentences specifically designed sentences that could be misheard in poor audio conditions. They generally follow a specific pattern-largely single syllables, with one or two multi-syllable words. These phrases, which can be viewed here, have been updated periodically over the years to reflect modern sensibilities. The sentences, colloquially called the “Harvard Sentences” and first introduced by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in 1969 as the “IEEE Recommended Practice for Speech Quality Measurements,” have roots in World War II, when Harvard scientists at the school’s Psycho-Acoustic Laboratory helped to test different kinds of noises for wartime military communications. These phrases-there are dozens of them-were chosen because they were phonetically balanced, and therefore should be recognizable and understandable in many audio conditions. Because these sentences were basically decided upon to highlight the nuances of speech. It’s as if the words were chosen from random novels, less for how much they make sense and more about how well each individual sentence flows together.Īnd you’d be right.
#Youtubers random phone numbers series
It’s a series of phrases, recited by both male and female speakers, that sound a little too … well, perfect. If you dial (858) 651-5050, you’ll hear what sounds like the most unusual poem ever produced. “Fishing in a mountain stream is my idea of a good time.“ The strange phone number with the best pronunciation you can find
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