--- /Metaphone.java	2023-07-05 02:32:14.106157510 +0200
+++ /Codec-1/src/java/org/apache/commons/codec/language/Metaphone.java	2023-07-05 02:32:14.110157510 +0200
@@ -318,8 +318,8 @@
 
 	private boolean isPreviousChar(StringBuffer string, int index, char c) {
 		boolean matches = false;
-		if( index > 0 &&
-		    index < string.length() ) {
+if (  index >= 0 && index < string.length (  )   )  {
+ 
 			matches = string.charAt(index - 1) == c;
 		}
 		return matches;
