Report of the meeting of the SC-03-12 Working Group on Forensic Audio of the SC-03 Subcommittee on the Preservation and Restoration of Audio Recording, held in New York, NY., US., 2009-10-11
The meeting was chaired by Tom Owen, the SC-03-12 Chairman. Ten Members were in attendance.
The agenda and the report of the Munich meeting of 2009-05-09 were accepted as written.
Development Projects
AES-X135 Forensic Audio - Recordist audio evidence collection
W. Dooley (the originator) was asked whether anything was changed and if he wished to add anything. Dooley replied in the affirmative and after a brief discussion, it was decided that the document is ongoing and he will report at the next SC-03-12 Standards Meeting.
AES-X172: The forensic analysis of electric network frequency (ENF)
A lengthy discussion was held regarding Daubert challenges. Chairman Owen pointed out that in the U.S. this is very important and that error rates, adequate data sets and other information must be provided for the ENF to be accepted as a scientific reliable means of authenticity. The group inquired among themselves whether it had been entered in a court of law as a means of authenticity of audio. E.B. Brixen commented that it had. The document producer C. Grigoras will be contacted regarding the admissibility law experience in Eastern Europe.
This will be discussed further at the next SC-03-12 Meeting.
New Projects
Voice Identification: issues related to Voice Identification standards were discussed at length. Owen agreed to provide a draft of the document. A discussion was held regarding the FBI inclusion of voice in their new biometric database (fingerprints, voice, eye scans, foot prints, palm prints, DNA, and other biometric features) which is scheduled to go on line shortly. The document will hopefully be on line for comment by December 2009.
Authenticity of digital audio: A paper on Digital Authenticity of audio with an error rate and methodology was discussed. We have the AES43 standard for analog authenticity that follows the Watergate Report Procedures. It would be nice to have a digital companion to the AES43 for digital files. D. Begault brought this up and it will be further discussed in Denmark [39th AES International Conference on "Audio Forensics: Practices and Challenges", Hillerod, Denmark, 17 to 19 June 2010] and future meetings.
New Business
There was no new business.
The next meeting will be scheduled in conjunction with the AES 128th Convention in London, UK., 2010-05.
