Forensic phonetics uses voice to identify criminals












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            * Forensic phonetics uses voice to identify criminals
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            Is the accused person identical to the anonymous caller on the audio recording? A forensic

            might help crime investigators reveal the truth; unfortunately, very few experts have such
            in this country. Therefore, the Institute of Phonetics, CU FA, has now launched, for the f
            seminar of forensic phonetics, with an ambition to satisfy the demand for such specialists

            Skarnitzl, Ph.D. is the instructor.
            What made you include a course in forensic phonetics in your degree programme?
            The seminar responded to interest among our students as well as experts because in the Cze

            forensic phonetics has as yet received very little attention at specialist level. The Inst
            Criminalistics Prague has a department of audio-video and documentation; Jan Mládek, who u

            only expert on voice analysis in the police ranks, left this institution two years ago. Th
            remained vacant for a long time; it was only recently that captain Luboš Voříšek joined th
            Mr. Voříšek, however, is an engineer not a phonetician; voice comparison requires a knowle

            and linguistics: for instance, knowing the limitations of voice variability in a speaker. 
            joined our courses and is one of the participants in the forensic phonetics seminar.
            Our graduate, PhDr. Marie Svobodová, Ph.D., is the only Czech phonetician who actually mak

            forensic phonetics, and she was happy to take the opportunity to broaden her knowledge to 
            and statistical analyses. Just how big the market currently is for experts is unclear. We 
            that we are the only institution in the country to offer a degree programme in phonetics a

            forensic phonetics.
            Who is the primary target group of the seminar?
            First and foremost, the seminar is an optional course for students in the follow-up MA pro

            phonetics. We are a small programme, with eight students in the MA programme. The seminar 
            currently include three of our students in addition to Marie Svobodová and Luboš Voříšek.
            At the same time, provided there is interest among members of the Police Academy or other 

            and institutions, we are ready to offer lifelong-learning seminars in forensic phonetics a
            complex education programmes in the basics of acoustics, physiological phonetics and so on
            four-hour blocks with the teaching participation of other colleagues of the Institute of P

            Will the seminar become a regular part of the curriculum?
            Normally, optional subjects are offered once every two years, for capacity reasons. In thi
            case, we would like to repeat the course in the following year to let it “take roots”, alt

            promise it now.
            What will the course contain and what will be the theory-practice ratio?
            The course will be equally balanced between theory and practice. The introductory lessons 

            history of speech identification: for instance, when was voice first used to identify offe
            we will discuss the roles and potentials of forensic phonetics or the physiology of voice 
            nature and variability. The major part of the course concentrates on the perceptive-audito

            and the instrumental – or acoustic – approach to speaker identification. We will discuss a
            that voice reveals about speakers, such as their sex, age, region, socioeconomic class or 
            following lessons will draw on this theory by measuring various acoustic parameters such a

            frequency and formants.
            The end of the semester will focus on statistical evaluation; we will use several voice fe
            to identify the probability that they belong to two speakers or one. The very last short c

            with ethics. Each year we would like to conduct a short research project focusing on the e
            a given feature has for distinguishing speakers.                                          
            Would you find forensic phonetics useful in your profession and would you like to expand y
            programme may be offered under lifelong education.                                        
            The seminar has been supported by the Higher Education Development Fund project FRVŠ 193/2