Hamming codes detect error in check bits

Question

I just started learning about hamming codes and they're pretty awesome. I was just wondering though, are the check bits able to detect error in the check bits, as in, if one of the check bits is received erroneously can that be detected? Or is some other method required?

Answer 1

The actual error detection and error correction for hamming codes does not treat parity bits (I guess that is what you mean by "check bits") different than any other bits in a code word. If one bit gets lost during a transmission, it can be recovered (by finding the "nearest neighbour" among valid words), if two bits get lost, the error can still be detected (since words differing two bits from a valid word are always invalid). If these bits are parity bits or other bits does not matter.