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Speaker Identification

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Language as Evidence

Abstract

This chapter aims to provide information on how the analysis of a voice can assist in solving a crime. The field of phonetics is the science that deals with the production, the transfer and the perception of speech. Forensic phonetics is the subarea of phonetics that deals with the analysis of voice (and speech) for the purpose of criminal investigations. For example, in cases where the police have a suspect, a forensic phonetician may be asked to carry out a voice comparison. On the other hand, a voice profile in a kidnapping or blackmail case can reduce the number of possible suspects. Detailed transcriptions in the case of surveillance recordings derived from a taped telephone line or from surveillance equipment installed in a house or a car may be requested for investigative or evidentiary purposes. In addition, voice line-ups are constructed in cases, where the victim heard the attacker or kidnapper, but did not see the person. This chapter provides (1) an overview of the typical tasks that forensic phoneticians are asked to carry out, (2) a brief history of the field, (3) an overview of analysis methods and (4) a more detailed description of the auditory-acoustic approach with some examples that may assist junior-colleagues in the field. With this chapter, the author also hopes to make the area of speaker identification and forensic phonetics in general more accessible to the wider public.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The novice reader of forensic phonetics may find the following introductory books useful: Jessen (2012), Künzel (1987), and Hollien (1990, 2002). A more advance research is represented by the works of Nolan (1983) and Rose (2002). Overview articles include: Braun (2012), Eriksson (2012), French (1994), French and Stevens (2013), Foulkes and French (2012), Gfroerer (2006), Hollien et al. (2014), Jessen (2008, 2010), Künzel (2003), Morrison (2010), Nolan (1991, 1997), and Watt (2010).

  2. 2.

    Personal communication 25.03.2021.

  3. 3.

    A detailed account of the case and its context can be found in de Jong-Lendle (2016).

  4. 4.

    The chapters in the Bush et al. report ῾Cryptographic tools and methodsʼ (pp. 48–61) and ῾The sound spectrographʼ (pp. 61–99) give an account of these decoding efforts.

  5. 5.

    See also: https://griffonagedotcom.wordpress.com/2018/07/26/the-secret-military-origins-of-the-sound-spectrograph/.

  6. 6.

    The IAFPA Voiceprint Resolution is also made available on their site: https://www.iafpa.net/the-association/resolutions/.

  7. 7.

    For an example of a US firm offering aural/spectrographic voice identification, please go to https://www.owenforensicservices.com/voice-identification-the-aural-spectrographic-method/.

  8. 8.

    In contrast with the highly variable voice, a person’s DNA and fingerprints do not change over time and are highly specific. The author is aware of the fact that the analysis and interpretation of these patterns can still lead to erroneous results in the case of unclear fingerprints—for example, in 2004, the FBI identified an innocent person as the bomber in the Madrid train bombing case (Stacey, 2004). See Dror (2015) for examiner’s bias; Lander (1989) and Thompson (1995) for faint DNA-bands that allow different interpretations as occurred in the Castro case. An excellent study explaining the significance of this case with regard to the Frye ruling is Mnookin (2007). For a detailed explanation on intra-speaker variability, see Nolan (1997, pp. 749–753).

  9. 9.

    Useful introductions can be found in Drygajlo et al. (2015), Jessen (2008), and Rose (2002).

  10. 10.

    In the case, an intruder with an unusual talent for languages managed a convincing disguise in an emergency call, imitating a foreign accent in German. He later confessed to the call. The effectiveness of the automatic approach in this case is currently being explored.

  11. 11.

    For a review on fundamental frequency, see Jessen (2012, Chap. 3) and Braun (1995).

  12. 12.

    RBH is the abbreviation of the German words ῾Rauigkeit’, ῾Behauchtheit’ and ‘Heiserkeit’ (translated as rough, breathy and hoarse), nasality not being part of the RBH classification.

  13. 13.

    For a detailed review on the potential of the Laver framework for forensic phonetics , the limitations of voice quality judgements and the forensic value of formant measurements, see Nolan (2005).

  14. 14.

    Despite the fact that the fricative pronunciation of the /g/ is the non-prestige variant, it obviously does not prevent anyone from having a career: another person being known for his /g/ was former president Gorbatschow.

  15. 15.

    For a discussion on this topic, see Jessen (2007; 2012, pp. 133–145). Furthermore, a detailed account of the perception of articulation rate is included in Schubert and Sendlmeier’s work (2005), and also in Pfitzinger (2001) who compares syllable and phone rate.

  16. 16.

    For breathing patterns, see Grosjean and Collins (1979), Trouvain (2014), Trouvain, Fauth and Möbius (2016).

  17. 17.

    For a review on age estimation (from faces) and voices, see Moyse (2014).

  18. 18.

    For a detailed explanation of the problem, see Robertson and Vignaux (1995), and Rose (2002, pp. 55–79).

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Acknowledgments

I am grateful to the editors for comments on an earlier draft of this article. Any errors remain my own.

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    Gea de Jong-Lendle

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  2. Anglistik III Englische Sprachwissenschaft, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Dieter Stein

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de Jong-Lendle, G. (2022). Speaker Identification. In: Guillén-Nieto, V., Stein, D. (eds) Language as Evidence. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84330-4_9

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