String Similarity with MySQL

string-similarity-mysql.sql

DELIMITER $$
CREATE DEFINER=`root`@`localhost` FUNCTION `COMPARE_STRING`( s1 text, s2 text) RETURNS int(11)
    DETERMINISTIC
BEGIN 
    DECLARE s1_len, s2_len, i, j, c, c_temp, cost INT; 
    DECLARE s1_char CHAR; 
    DECLARE cv0, cv1 text; 
    SET s1_len = CHAR_LENGTH(s1), s2_len = CHAR_LENGTH(s2), cv1 = 0x00, j = 1, i = 1, c = 0; 
    IF s1 = s2 THEN 
      RETURN 0; 	
    ELSEIF s1_len = 0 THEN 
      RETURN s2_len; 
    ELSEIF s2_len = 0 THEN 
      RETURN s1_len; 
    ELSE 
      WHILE j <= s2_len DO 
        SET cv1 = CONCAT(cv1, UNHEX(HEX(j))), j = j + 1; 
      END WHILE; 
      WHILE i <= s1_len DO 
        SET s1_char = SUBSTRING(s1, i, 1), c = i, cv0 = UNHEX(HEX(i)), j = 1; 
        WHILE j <= s2_len DO 
          SET c = c + 1; 
          IF s1_char = SUBSTRING(s2, j, 1) THEN  
            SET cost = 0; ELSE SET cost = 1; 
          END IF; 
          SET c_temp = CONV(HEX(SUBSTRING(cv1, j, 1)), 16, 10) + cost; 
          IF c > c_temp THEN SET c = c_temp; END IF; 
            SET c_temp = CONV(HEX(SUBSTRING(cv1, j+1, 1)), 16, 10) + 1; 
            IF c > c_temp THEN  
              SET c = c_temp;  
            END IF; 
            SET cv0 = CONCAT(cv0, UNHEX(HEX(c))), j = j + 1; 
        END WHILE; 
        SET cv1 = cv0, i = i + 1; 
      END WHILE; 
    END IF; 
    RETURN c; 
  END$$
DELIMITER ;

DELIMITER $$
CREATE DEFINER=`root`@`localhost` FUNCTION `SIMILARITY_STRING`(a text, b text) RETURNS double
BEGIN
RETURN ABS(((COMPARE_STRING(a, b) / length(b)) * 100) - 100);
END$$
DELIMITER ;

What exactly is UNHEX(HEX(j)) doing? I thought those were inverse operations, but they aren't. I can't just replace them with j and have it work. I was hoping to speed this up, but adding and index for my column, and fully specifying the table and fields made no difference. Is there any way to make this faster?