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I'm having difficulty distinguishing between the pronunciation of two words Joke and Choke from Cambridge Online Dictionary (UK pronunciation). Here're the links for the two sounds:

To my ears, it sounds like the /dʒ/ in Joke in the above recording has been completely devoiced (and this is typically for lenis sounds if they occur at the onset of stressed syllables in UK pronunciation as I can see).

Suppose that /dʒ/ has been devoiced, then is there any phonetic difference between it and the fortis counterpart? If no, then is there any acoustic difference between the recordings of Joke and Choke above?

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    at first blush, without having listened to the clips, I'd expect joke to begin [tʃ] and choke to begin [tʃʰ]
    – Tristan
    Commented Oct 17 at 9:36
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    The primary distinguishing feature between ‘voiced’ and ‘unvoiced’ occlusives in initial position is indeed aspiration in most forms of English, as @Tristan says. For the ‘voiced’ consonants, both voiced realisations (with negative VOT) and unvoiced realisations (with zero VOT or short, positive VOT) are common, but the ‘unvoiced’ consonants will always be aspirated (with a long, positive VOT). Note that in some Englishes (especially Indian English), the difference is normal voiced vs voiceless, with no aspiration.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Oct 17 at 11:02
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    @TranKhanh [ʰ] is not the same as [h]. Regardless, [tʃʰ] has a clear phonetic interpretation, it is a postalveolar affricate with +ve voice onset time (i.e. voicing only starts significantly after the closure's release, where [tʃ] would indicate voicing starts around the same time as the closure's release, and [dʒ] that voicing starts before the closure's release)
    – Tristan
    Commented Oct 17 at 14:57
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    @Lambie this is emphatically not the case. "Voiced" stops are frequently voiceless unaspirated in English, and distinguished from "voiceless" stops solely by aspiration. The fact the OP specifically brings up devoicing as typical of lenis sounds in this position makes it clear they know this
    – Tristan
    Commented Oct 17 at 14:58
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    SE from the early 2010s: Diachronic devoicing of initial lenis plosives in English
    – Michaelyus
    Commented Oct 17 at 21:01

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As @Tristan pointed out, there's a brief puff of air inserted between /ʃ/ and the diphthong in choke as shown in the below sound wave:

enter image description here

The fortis also generates a stronger energy, showing by a denser ban of purple color.

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