Soundex Phonetic Algorithm

The Soundex algorithm is a phonetic algorithm for indexing words by their pronunciation. It is commonly used for proper nouns, such as personal names, but can also be applied to other words. The algorithm assigns a unique code to each word based on the way it sounds when spoken. This code can then be used to index the word in a database or other data structure, allowing it to be searched and compared with other words. The Soundex algorithm is based on the idea of "soundalikes" – words that are spelled differently but sound the same when spoken. It uses a set of rules to convert words into a standardized code, with the goal of ensuring that words with the same pronunciation will have the same code. This allows words with similar pronunciations to be grouped together and searched efficiently.

At Tilores we use the Soundex phonetic algorithm as one of the potential data record matching algorithms for entity resolution. These can be combined with other matching algorithms to allow fine-tuned data matching and deduplication.