HD-Telephony: HIP or Hype?

Since the advent of the High Definition Television, The HD phenomena has spread far and wide in recent years making the “ordinary†“extraordinary†with the addition of a simple 2 letter prefix. The telecommunications industry is no exception with the strengthening concept of HD-Telephony. Is it all hype or is there an actual benefit to better sounding phone calls? How does this affect the hardware and software designed to keep us connected? As a software developer in this field, I hope to shed a little light on the topic and separate the facts from the misconceptions.