Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) Analog voice data must be translated into a series of binary digits before they can be transmitted. With Pulse Code Modulation (PCM), the amplitude of the sound wave is sampled at regular intervals and translated into a binary number. The difference between the original analog signal and the translated digital signal is called quantizing error.

PCM

PCM uses a sampling rate of 8000 samples per second. Each sample is an 8 bit sample resulting in a digital rate of 64,000 bps (8 x 8000).

Converting Samples to Bits Quantizing Similar concept to pixelization Breaks wave into pieces, assigns a value in a particular range 8-bit range allows for 256 possible sample levels More bits means greater detail, fewer bits means less detail