Thursday 25 June 2015

The Need To Understand Forensic Audio Analysis

By Freida Michael


There are many components, departments, etc involved in crime investigation. Forensic audio analysis allows investigators to examine and understand types of sounds -- such as recordings -- from a particular crime scene. Audio forensics is an important part of any investigation.

The analysis of forensic sound has many different components. One of the most important jobs is to make sure the sound is authentic. A sound analysis must make sure a recording hasn't been altered with or tampered from its original state. It must be evaluated to make sure it is okay to be used in a courtroom.

The audio is enhanced to improve the sound and make it clearer. This is to make sure nothing was missed on the initial listen. When a sound is enhanced, it cleans any unwanted noises such as static. Sound analysis requires professional equipment and specific skills. Improved technology allows different was to analyze sound. The old method required huge equipment. Technology has made it so most work is done digitally on computers today.

There are many different techniques used thanks to technology. Digital signal processing involves using math to manipulate an information signal. It messes with time and the frequency of the sound to better understand it. One trick is to reverse engineer a noise to determine where it came from. An analysis must be careful not to destroy important evidence while cleaning recordings. Discrete Fourier transform orders sounds by their frequencies as a way to interpret sounds better.

Investigators must listen to people talking on the audio and transcribe the dialogue. They must determine who the people talking are. This can help them determine who was at the scene of the crime and provide any evidence. The crime scene is set up through sounds. The history of this analysis started with the Watergate Scandal that occurred in the 1970s. They used sound as evidence during the investigation and had to pick apart several sound recordings.

A forensics audio lab handles many sensitive sound recordings throughout the day. The job of the lab is to make sure the recordings can be used in a court of law as evidence. They analyze many recordings connected to crime evidence including emergency calls to 911, voicemails from cell-phones, memory cards recovered from mobile devices and computer recordings.

These forensic technicians are also often called upon to testify in court. When they are on the stand they have to defend their findings. It is therefore important to make sure their findings stand up under scrutiny.

Audio forensics is an important part of a crime investigation. Recordings might reveal who is at the scene of the crime and can help establish things such as motives and alibis. As new technology changes, advances in technology will be able to interpret sounds in different ways and do a better job of analyzing sound recordings. It is not an easy job, but it is an important part of trying to solve a crime investigation.




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