November has been yet another busy and exciting month for us at The Forensic Voice Centre. As we approach our 6-month milestone, we wanted to share some of the highlights from our busiest month yet.

⚖️ Responsibilities as an expert witness

One of our senior forensic phoneticians, Dr Rhodes, was required to attend court as an expert witness for a high-profile case that involved forensic transcription. He attended several experts’ meetings with the defence expert to discuss their interpretations and findings, as well as meeting with the instructing barrister to provide advice about his evidence and transcription methodology.

🔒 Site inspection for physical and IT security

As part of our ongoing commitment to cybersecurity, we have been visited by one of the UK’s largest constabularies for a site inspection of our physical and IT security systems. This ensured that the Forensic Voice Centre has the correct implemented measures to protect sensitive data from unauthorised access.

🤝 collaborating with universities

We have met with staff from various universities, including our alma mater university, to explore the possibilities of collaborating on research and teaching projects. We have shared our expertise and experience from casework to offer inspiration for future research projects and initiatives. We hope this will be helpful to future students who are looking to make a real-world impact in forensic speech science research, as well as assisting us with method validation and resolving practical issues in casework.

🗣️ Co-hosting a transcription networkshop

We also co-hosted a transcription networkshop with Lauren Harrington, a PhD student from the University of York. Our aim was to gain insight from other forensic practitioners who are involved in transcribing speech in forensic recordings on topics such as drafting methods and cognitive bias mitigation strategies. It was an engaging discussion about some of the agreed and the controversial principles of forensic transcription, as well as the challenges of unclear or disputed utterances, and the best practices for reporting and presenting results. The outcomes of the networkshop will help inform an article by Harrington and Rhodes for The International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law.

🎧 Putting our headphones back on for forensic casework

Of course, we have also been busy with our core business of providing forensic speech and audio services for defence and prosecution teams across the UK and internationally. We have produced several reports about forensic speaker comparison, transcription, questioned utterance analysis and enhancement, as well as answering frequently-asked questions from police officers and legal teams who have not used this type of forensic expert service before.

We hope you enjoyed reading about what we have been up to in November. We are looking forward to sharing more news and updates with you in the coming months via our News page. If you have any questions in the meantime, please don’t hesitate to contact us!