| Chair: | Cole Whitecotton | Send Email |
| Chair: | James Zjalic | Send Email |
| Vice Chair: | Gretchel Lomboy | Send Email |
| Forum: | Committee Discussion Forum | |
The recent AES International Conference on Audio Forensics, held June 18-20, 2019 in Porto, Portugal was a huge success. Thanks to all involved for a wonderful event. Details can be found here: http://www.aes.org/conferences/2019/forensics/.
Proceedings from this conference and all previous audio forensics conferences (26, 33, 39, 46, 54, 2017) are available here: http://www.aes.org/publications/conferences/. This includes the selection for the Best Paper Award named for conference Platinum Sponsors CEDAR Audio and Oxford Wave Research: "Inverse Decoding of PCM A-law and ยต-law" by Luca Cuccovillo and Patrick Aichroth.
Audio Forensics refers to engineering and scientific analysis, evaluation and presentation of audio and acoustic evidence in a judicial inquiry normally leading towards a presentation in court. The complex challenges faced by the field transcend borders and jurisdictions, and becomes increasingly complex with the proliferation of new types of digital media. In order to establish a reliable scientific basis for the procedures and analysis of the outcomes of audio forensic analysis, the technical committee meets at AES conventions to plan conferences, workshops and tutorials; to encourage dissemination of scientific information through peer-reviewed journal and conference publications and posters; and to communicate educational opportunities in the field. Presently, the technical committee meetings for audio forensics are open to all attendees.
Last updated: 10/31/2015
General Considerations -
Forensic audio has important applications in law and investigations. These continue to grow as the ability to record and share digital media proliferates. Therefore, it is important for the practitioner working with forensic audio to be trained in and apply processes related to proper evidence handling and laboratory procedures. Analog audio evidence, once commonly cassette and micro-cassette tapes, make up an increasingly small percentage of cases. As such, digital audio evidence, which in practice is closely related to and often times generated by computer forensics investigations, requires handling practices such as imaging physical digital media, hashing file duplicates, authenticating recordings, and recovering and/or repairing corrupt or carved files.
Modern challenges for the forensic audio examiner have expanded to include dealing with evidence from social networks and sharing websites such as YouTube and Facebook. These pose unique challenges in attributing provenance due to processing applied automatically by the hosting site. Additionally, growing concern for privacy rights has led citizens and providers of Internet services to question authorities law enforcement entities have in requesting and accessing digital media hosted on these sites. Similarly, mobile phone manufacturers have adopted policies and operating system designs resistant to collection of probative material and using "backdoor" access to password protected devices. As social media awareness and use continue to evolve, so will public and commercial policies related to privacy rights.
The use of probabilistic methods in the presentation of scientific evidence is of increasing interest to the forensic sciences as a whole. As a result, we anticipate seeing the integration of methods and techniques in forensic audio employed within a probabilistic framework such as Bayesian likelihood, which enjoys application in forensic speaker comparison.
Difficulty in the area of audio enhancement continues due to lossy data compression common in small digital recorders, data compression and bandwidth limited signals in telecommunications, and non-ideal recording environments common to surveillance and security. In the presence of heavy data compression, classical algorithm designs for noise reduction filters are challenged and thereby require that new techniques to be developed.
AES Technical Committee on Audio Forensics -
Numerous papers on audio forensics appear in the Journal of AES and are presented at AES Conventions each year. Additionally, there have been 6 AES Conferences on Audio Forensics: 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2017. The next conference is being considered for 2019. Additionally, regular workshops and tutorials organized by the TC-AF exploring these and many other emerging trends appear at AES Conventions in the US and Europe each year.
These documents do not necessarily express the official position of the AES on the issues discussed at these meetings, and only represent the views of committee members participating in the discussion. Any unauthorized use of these publications is prohibited. Authorization must be obtained from the Executive Director of the AES: Email, Tel: +1 212 661 8528, Address: 551 Fifth Ave., Suite 1225, New York, New York 10176, USA.
2022-10-17 Fall 2022 TC-AF Meeting Report
Description: Minutes from the Fall 2022 virtual meeting of TC Audio Forensics
2021-6-18 Spring 2021 TC-AF Meeting Report
Description: Minutes from the Spring 2021 meeting of TC Audio Forensics
2020-6-4 127th AES Convention TC-AF Meeting Report
Description: meeting minutes
2018-10-20 145th Convention Meeting Report
Description: Minutes from TC-AF Meeting
2018-5-25 144th AES Convention TC-AF Meeting Report
Description: May 208 TC-AF meeting minutes
2014-10-16 137th AES Convention TC-AF Meeting Report
Description: Minutes from TC-AF meeting in LA on Oct. 11, 2014
2014-5-23 135th AES Convention TC-AF Meeting Report
Description: TC-AF meeting minutes from the 135th AES Convention, New York, Oct. 2013
2013-9-3 134th Convention TC-AF Meeting Report
Description: May 2013 TC-AF meeting minutes
2013-9-3 133rd Convention TC-AF Meeting Report
Description: October 2012 TC-AF meeting summary
2013-9-3 132nd Convention TC-AF Meeting Report
Description: April 2012 meeting minutes
2013-9-3 131st Convention TC-AF Meeting Report
Description: October 2011 TC-AF meeting minutes
2013-9-3 130th Convention TC-AF Meeting Report
Description: May 2011 meeting minutes
2013-9-3 129th Convention TC-AF Meeting Report
Description: November 2010 TC-AF meeting minutes
2013-9-3 128th Convention TC-AF Meeting Report
Description: May 2010 TC-AF meeting minutes
2013-9-3 127th AES Convention TC-AF Meeting Report
Description: October 2009 TC-AF meeting minutes
2013-9-3 125th AES Convention TC-AF Meeting Report
Description: Oct. 2008 TC-AF meeting minutes
2023-2-7 2019 AF Porto, Portugal
Description: 2019 AF Porto, Portugal
2023-2-7 2017 AF Arlington, VA - USA
Description: 2017 AF Arlington, VA - USA
2023-2-7 2014 AF London, UK
Description: 2014 AF London, UK
2023-2-7 2012 AF Denver, CO - USA
Description: 2012 AF Denver, CO - USA
2023-2-7 2010 AF Hilleroed, Denmark
Description: 2010 AF Hilleroed, Denmark
2023-2-7 2008 AF Denver, CO - USA
Description: 2008 AF Denver, CO - USA
2023-2-7 2005 AF Denver, CO - USA
Description: 2005 AF Denver, CO - USA
| Durand Begault | Gordon Reid | Eddy Bogh Brixen |
| Rob Maher | Anibal Ferreira | Douglas S. Lacey |
| Bruce Koenig | J. Keith McElveen | Robert-Eric Gaskell |
| Marisa Dery | Jeff M. Smith | Catalin Grigoras |
| Daniel Rappaport | Cole Whitecotton | Gretchel Lomboy |
| James Zjalic | Dante Fazio | Luca Cuccovillo |
To request membership in this Technical Committee please email the Chair by using the link above.
