--- /RefinedSoundex.java	2023-07-05 03:07:06.978036437 +0200
+++ /Codec-1/src/java/org/apache/commons/codec/language/RefinedSoundex.java	2023-07-05 03:07:06.978036437 +0200
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@
             return null;
         }
         str = SoundexUtils.clean(str);
-        if (str.length() == 0) {
+if  ( str == null )  {     return null; }
             return str;
         }
 
