Thursday, June 18, 2015

The Need To Understand Forensic Audio Analysis

By Freida Michael


There are many components, departments, etc involved in crime investigation. Forensic audio analysis allows investigators to examine and understand types of sounds -- such as recordings -- from a particular crime scene. Audio forensics is an important part of any investigation.

The analysis of forensic sound has many different components. One of the most important jobs is to make sure the sound is authentic. A sound analysis must make sure a recording hasn't been altered with or tampered from its original state. It must be evaluated to make sure it is okay to be used in a courtroom.

State of the art equipment are used to authenticate an sound recording. Although many question this process, validating the sound may be done in multiple ways. With an excellent ad skilled personnel or engineer and hi tech equipment, tamperings are identified in the clip if present. This new technology allows for authenticating to be done in alternative ways, though it is currently under scrutiny.

Static and unwanted ambient sounds clutter the sound and to enhance it, this clutter must be removed. This process must be done carefully because an important faint dialogue may be mistaken for a useless ambient sound and removed. Carefully cleaning the recording will uncover pieces of evidence without destroying the sound. "Reverse Engineering" a noise can also be doe to determine the sound wave's origin.

Sound analysis first came onto the scene during the Watergate scandal, when investigators had to pick apart the audio recordings ceased in the course of the investigation. In those days they had racks of huge equipment to help them. Today, however, most of the work is done digitally, on computers. Today's technology can achieve what would have been impossible back during the Watergate investigation. However, a working knowledge of the old equipment is still welcome and appreciated even in today's digital world.

A forensics audio lab handles many sensitive sound recordings throughout the day. The job of the lab is to make sure the recordings can be used in a court of law as evidence. They analyze many recordings connected to crime evidence including emergency calls to 911, voicemails from cell-phones, memory cards recovered from mobile devices and computer recordings.

Sometimes, these forensic technicians must testify in a courtroom. They describe the sound and their analysis of the findings. It is important that they do an accurate and efficient job in analyzing sound from crime scenes. Their work plays an important part in the court of law and solving a crime. Their work is under careful observation in court and they must be able to defend their findings.

A crime scene is composed of many factors, one of which and often overlooked is the sound. Recordings provide proofs in terms of alibis, motives and persons associated and present in the crime. Audio forensics covers this aspect and is crucial in an investigation, giving life to the recreation of a crime scene.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment