Chicago section chair Kerry J Haps (left) presenting mug and certificate of appreciation to presenter Gretchel B. Lomboy (right).
Meeting Topic: An Introduction to Audio Forensics
Speaker Name: Gretchel B. Lomboy, MSc, Seattle Police Department
Meeting Location: Virtual (Zoom)
Slides:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/11WRvwslDS4BxcFFG7EoPY0nfdtSAJLTM/view?usp=sharing
Audio Forensics is a discipline within the digital and multimedia field of Forensic Science. It relates to the acquisition, analysis, and evaluation of sound recordings. Forensic Audio recordings are typically made in uncontrolled environments where quality suffers and the ratio of signal to noise is very poor. Voices mix with other recorded sounds, making intelligibility difficult. Additionally, recordings are very often made from communication transmissions, such as telephone lines, that affect the quality, frequency range, and characteristics of the recording even more.
This presentation offers a brief overview of audio analysis in a forensic light and highlights the differences between the operations of a forensic audio analyst and those of an audio engineer.
Though there may be a few similarities between enhancing audio for a final mixdown and enhancing audio for the courtroom, the differences between the two disciplines may impact the outcome of the rest of an individual's life.