Delay Distortion

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What Does Delay Distortion Mean?

Delay distortion is a guided transmission media phenomenon where network data signals are transmitted via a medium at a certain frequency and speed.

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Delay distortion occurs when signal velocity and frequency vary. This means that all signals do not arrive at the same time, resulting in distortion of the signal. This term is commonly used in fiber optics.

Techopedia Explains Delay Distortion

Distortion refers to the change or alteration of an object. Data signals must be transmitted over a medium with a defined frequency and speed. Digital data are highly vulnerable to delay distortion. This is because any transmitted data packet bit can spill and destabilize the overall packet transmission pattern.

Delay distortion may be resolved with different techniques. The best example is a telephone line, which equalizes speed signals with medium frequency.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.