A blind decoding method for wireless communication, comprising: receiving a candidate codeword via a communication channel; identifying a decoding hypothesis for decoding the candidate codeword based at least in part on the candidate codeword being encoded using a polar code, the decoding hypothesis associated with a plurality of information bit locations of the polar code corresponding to a plurality of information bits and a plurality of frozen bit locations of the polar code corresponding to a plurality of frozen bits; performing a successive cancellation list, SCL, decoding process for the candidate codeword based at least in part on the identified decoding hypothesis, the SCL decoding process comprising, for each frozen bit location of at least one subset of the plurality of frozen bit locations: determining frozen bit path metrics for a set of decoding paths based at least in part on frozen bit metrics for the set of decoding paths for the each frozen bit location and preceding ones of the at least the subset of the plurality of frozen bit locations and independent of frozen bit metrics for the plurality of information bit locations, wherein the frozen bit metrics or the frozen bit path metrics are normalized based on reliability information for each frozen bit location of the polar code, and discarding a subset of the set of decoding paths based at least in part on comparisons of the normalized frozen bit path metrics for each of the set of decoding paths to a threshold frozen bit path metric, wherein the threshold frozen bit path metric is the same for each frozen bit location of the at least one subset of the plurality of frozen bit locations; and determining, subsequent to the decoding process for all of the plurality of frozen bit locations, that at least one decoding path of the set of decoding paths is not discarded; identifying the information bits based at least in part on the at least one decoding path; and processing the information bits based at least in part on the identification. receiving a candidate codeword via a communication channel; identifying a decoding hypothesis for decoding the candidate codeword based at least in part on the candidate codeword being encoded using a polar code, the decoding hypothesis associated with a plurality of information bit locations of the polar code corresponding to a plurality of information bits and a plurality of frozen bit locations of the polar code corresponding to a plurality of frozen bits; performing a successive cancellation list, SCL, decoding process for the candidate codeword based at least in part on the identified decoding hypothesis, the SCL decoding process comprising, for each frozen bit location of at least one subset of the plurality of frozen bit locations: determining frozen bit path metrics for a set of decoding paths based at least in part on frozen bit metrics for the set of decoding paths for the each frozen bit location and preceding ones of the at least the subset of the plurality of frozen bit locations and independent of frozen bit metrics for the plurality of information bit locations, wherein the frozen bit metrics or the frozen bit path metrics are normalized based on reliability information for each frozen bit location of the polar code, and discarding a subset of the set of decoding paths based at least in part on comparisons of the normalized frozen bit path metrics for each of the set of decoding paths to a threshold frozen bit path metric, wherein the threshold frozen bit path metric is the same for each frozen bit location of the at least one subset of the plurality of frozen bit locations; and determining, subsequent to the decoding process for all of the plurality of frozen bit locations, that at least one decoding path of the set of decoding paths is not discarded; identifying the information bits based at least in part on the at least one decoding path; and processing the information bits based at least in part on the identification. determining frozen bit path metrics for a set of decoding paths based at least in part on frozen bit metrics for the set of decoding paths for the each frozen bit location and preceding ones of the at least the subset of the plurality of frozen bit locations and independent of frozen bit metrics for the plurality of information bit locations, wherein the frozen bit metrics or the frozen bit path metrics are normalized based on reliability information for each frozen bit location of the polar code, and discarding a subset of the set of decoding paths based at least in part on comparisons of the normalized frozen bit path metrics for each of the set of decoding paths to a threshold frozen bit path metric, wherein the threshold frozen bit path metric is the same for each frozen bit location of the at least one subset of the plurality of frozen bit locations; and determining, subsequent to the decoding process for all of the plurality of frozen bit locations, that at least one decoding path of the set of decoding paths is not discarded; identifying the information bits based at least in part on the at least one decoding path; and processing the information bits based at least in part on the identification.