| Volume
5, number 1 (June 1998)
Niels
O. Schiller and Olaf Köster
The
ability of expert witnesses to identify voices: a comparison
between trained and untrained listeners
This
study reports the results of a speaker identification experiment
in which the performance of phonetic expert witnesses and
untrained listeners was compared. In a direct identification task
participants from both groups were asked to identify the voice of
a target speaker among five foils. Results showed that expert
witnesses, who were experienced in speaker identification,
performed significantly better than untrained listeners, who had
no experience in phonetic speaker identification.
Full Text
Angelika
Braun and Hermann J. Künzel
Is
forensic speaker identification unethical – or can it be
unethical not to do it?
This
paper makes a case for forensic speaker-identification, but only
if the practitioner is properly trained and carries out the task
conscientiously. It could be argued (and has been argued) that it
is unethical to engage in forensic speaker-identification until
there is a well-established and fully automatic (i.e.
machine-based) approach available: in other words phoneticians
should not practise in this field at all until the subjective
element of their task has been removed. The present contribution
will focus on forensic speaker-profiling and identification.
First, the specifics of the forensic task as opposed to the
commercial speaker-identification (SI) task will be summarized,
followed by a brief outline of the methods currently employed by
forensic phoneticians. The applicability of automatic SI
procedures will then be examined. It transpires that only in a
small proportion of forensic cases does the material which is
available from either the plaintiff or the investigating agency
lend itself to the application of automatic methods. Therefore, it
might seem unethical to apply these methods uncritically. However,
in the vast majority of cases, other non-automatic methods have to
be pursued. It is contended that the forensic phonetician has a
moral obligation to aid the course of justice within the
limitations which are imposed by the quantity and quality of the
speech samples in question.
Full Text
Olaf
Köster, Markus M. Hess, Niels O. Schiller and Hermann J. Künzel
The
correlation between auditory speech sensitivity and speaker
recognition ability
In
various applications of forensic phonetics the question arises as
to how far aural-perceptual speaker recognition performance is
reliable. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the relationship
between speaker recognition results and human
perception/production abilities like musicality or speech
sensitivity. In this study, performance in a speaker recognition
experiment and a speech sensitivity test are correlated. The
results show a moderately significant positive correlation between
the two tasks. Generally, performance in the speaker recognition
task was better than in the speech sensitivity test. Professionals
in speech and singing yielded a more homogeneous correlation than
non-experts. Training in speech as well as choir-singing seems to
have a positive effect on performance in speaker recognition. It
may be concluded, firstly, that in cases where the reliability of
voice line-up results or the credibility of a testimony have to be
considered, the speech sensitivity test could be a useful
indicator. Secondly, the speech sensitivity test might be
integrated into the canon of possible procedures for the
accreditation of forensic phoneticians. Both tests may also be
used in combination.
Full Text
David
Woolls and Malcolm Coulthard
Tools
for the trade
This
paper describes and exemplifies the use of a series of computer
programs, many of which have been specifically developed to
analyse the short texts which are typical of much of the material
with which forensic linguists work. The first part of the paper
consists of a series of illustrations of how the programs could be
used, or actually have been used, in cases of doubtful or disputed
authorship, while the second half of the paper contains a more
detailed description of the programs and information on how to
obtain them.
Full Text
Peter
French
Mr
Akbar’s nearest ear versus the Lombard reflex: a case study in
forensic phonetics
Full
Text
Book
Reviews
Book
reviews
Full Text
User:
WEIMING LIU
Session: 18888
Forensic Linguistics is published by the University of Birmingham
Press.
| 
