We provide the following services to police forces and legal teams across the UK and internationally. With years of experience and specialist training, our team of experts are dedicated to providing independent, impartial and reliable results that can be presented in court and that are robust to cross-examination.
our Services
FORENSIC VOICE COMPARISON
We conduct analysis of voices in evidential recordings to assess the strength of evidence that a voice in a recording might belong to a suspect or known person.
FORENSIC TRANSCRIPTION
We produce detailed, independent and impartial transcripts of difficult or poor quality recordings for investigative or evidential purposes.
audio enhancement
We use highly sophisticated audio enhancement software on noisy or unclear recordings to improve the intelligibility of speech. Our aim is to make the speech clearer and louder and reduce unwanted noise.
SPEAKER PROFILING
We analyse voices in recordings to determine a speaker’s regional or language background, or any other aspects of identity which may be apparent from speech.
questioned utterance analysis
We can analyse a specific utterance, word or phrase to determine the content of the speech when the recording is very unclear, or the content is disputed.
digital media services
We are able to transfer or reformat audio evidence from physical, digital or analog formats into the appropriate configurations for editing, analysis and court presentation.
casework examples
These examples are hypothetical cases that are based on real casework that we have worked on. We are not able to publish details of recent or ongoing casework that is not in the public domain.
Operation A
Speaker profiling and voice comparison
There is a recorded telephone call of an unknown offender admitting to a crime. The police require information about the profile of the speaker, such as their ethnic, regional or language background. The experts at the Forensic Voice Centre produce a ‘profile’ of the speaker in a formal report and a male is later arrested. The police obtain an interview recording and body-worn camera footage of the arrest. We are instructed to compare the voice of the defendant with the voice on the recorded telephone call. There are some limitations due to the mismatch between the reference material and the telephone call and the technical quality. However, the expert produces a report that concludes “strong support” for the view that the voices originate from the same person. The work is checked and agreed by a second expert.
operation B
Enhancement and transcription
There are several hours of audio material that have been captured by undercover police officers using covert recording devices. The recordings take place in a noisy café with loud background speech and ambient noise. The police instruct us to reduce the background noise, raise the level of the target speech and produce a transcript. Using specialist software and equipment, the experts reduce some of the background noise and increase the levels of the ‘target speech’. Through detailed analytical listening and computer-based measurements, the expert produces an accurate transcript that adheres to our strict information management policy and checking procedure. The expert is called to provide oral testimony of their findings in a criminal court where the defendant is found guilty.
The Forensic Voice Centre 