Harvard Sentences

[JordanN]

Today I learned that there is in fact a technical standard for microphone check phrases. These “Harvard Sentences” were originally developed to test military communications equipment in WW2 (https://gizmodo.com/the-harvard-sentences-secretly-shaped-the-development-1689793568) but are still used when testing telecommunications technology today.

So, when you become bored with "Test 1, 2", know that a group of experts did in fact write a standard for this.

https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~hgs/audio/harvard.html

Here's List 71

Open your book to the first page.
Fish evade the net, and swim off.
Dip the pail once and let it settle.
Will you please answer that phone.
The big red apple fell to the ground.
The curtain rose and the show was on.
The young prince became heir to the throne.
He sent the boy on a short errand.
Leave now and you will arrive on time.
The corner store was robbed last night.

Here's the current standard:
"269-2019 - IEEE Standard for Measuring Electroacoustic Performance of Communication Devices" / https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/servlet/opac?punumber=8998537. I don't have access to it at the moment, but when I am curious to see if they have a current standard. By the way, they do have a folder of test recordings that you can download on the standard's webpage using the "Additional Content is Available" link (https://standards.ieee.org/content/dam/ieee-standards/standards/web/download/269-2019_downloads.zip).

[JordanN]

(Updated: Changed thread title, added Gizmodo link and explanation regarding the origin of Harvard Sentences.)

[TriciaG]

I find when doing a mic check in person, I sometimes do the LV standard test wording: "People were pleased to find that Peter Piper had picked a couple pages for fable fans..."

[JordanN]

I find when doing a mic check in person, I sometimes do the LV standard test wording: "People were pleased to find that Peter Piper had picked a couple pages for fable fans..."

Worse, I found myself repeating the Librivox public domain announcement.

[Aperi]

Haha! Oh no, you've become public domain... I'll probably be doing that in about a year's time if I get back into recording properly too!

Here's List 71

Open your book to the first page.
Fish evade the net, and swim off.
Dip the pail once and let it settle.
Will you please answer that phone.
The big red apple fell to the ground.
The curtain rose and the show was on.
The young prince became heir to the throne.
He sent the boy on a short errand.
Leave now and you will arrive on time.
The corner store was robbed last night.

Maybe I'm just sleep deprived, but does this read like some sort of strange overextended haiku to anyone else?

[Peter Why]

You're right. (I've not been able to work anything out for the last line, though). If you like haiku, do have a look at "An Introduction to Haiku" with translation and commentary by Harold G. Henderson. Translated with a very light touch; beautiful.
EDIT: A night's sleep, and I have the last line.

There is a last page for us all, but
Open your book to the first page.

As the shakuhachi sounds across the water
Fish evade the net and swim off

The key to a quiet mind:
Dip the pail once and let it settle.

I listen to the sound of my breath ...
Will you please answer that phone

After years of struggling for stillness
The big apple fell to the ground
And there was no I to hear it.

With the first cry of the newborn child,
The curtain rose and the show was on

The young prince became heir to the throne
And walked away from it into the world.

He sent the boy on a short errand:
"Find yourself."

The golden leaf knows when to fall;
Leave now and you will arrive on time.

The corner store was robbed last night.
Some days it rains.

[Availle]

Wow, this is deep!

He sent the boy on a short errand:
"Find yourself."

[realisticspeakers]

Wow, this is deep!

He sent the boy on a short errand:
"Find yourself."

I just love this one:
After years of struggling for stillness
The big apple fell to the ground
And there was no I to hear it.

[Peter Why]

Thanks. I made them up on the spur of the moment (except the last one); I can't remember which were the first two that started the sequence. Aperi was right; the series of sentences has a very strange, surreal rhythm to it.

My Buddhist practices over the years seem to have taken root more than I thought!

Peter