A demonstration of the application of the new paradigm for the evaluation of forensic evidence under conditions reflecting those of a real forensic-voice-comparison case

Ewald Enzinger*, Geoffrey Stewart Morrison, Felipe Ochoa

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The new paradigm for the evaluation of the strength of forensic evidence includes: The use of the likelihood-ratio framework. The use of relevant data, quantitative measurements, and statistical models. Empirical testing of validity and reliability under conditions reflecting those of the case under investigation. Transparency as to decisions made and procedures employed. The present paper illustrates the use of the new paradigm to evaluate strength of evidence under conditions reflecting those of a real forensic-voice-comparison case. The offender recording was from a landline telephone system, had background office noise, and was saved in a compressed format. The suspect recording included substantial reverberation and ventilation system noise, and was saved in a different compressed format. The present paper includes descriptions of the selection of the relevant hypotheses, sampling of data from the relevant population, simulation of suspect and offender recording conditions, and acoustic measurement and statistical modelling procedures. The present paper also explores the use of different techniques to compensate for the mismatch in recording conditions. It also examines how system performance would have differed had the suspect recording been of better quality.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)42-57
Number of pages16
JournalScience and Justice
Volume56
Issue number1
Early online date3 Jul 2015
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2016

Bibliographical note


Funding: Australian Research Council, Australian Federal Police, New South Wales Police, Queensland Police, National Institute of Forensic Science, Australasian Speech Science and Technology Association, and the Guardia Civil through Linkage Project LP100200142. NICTA is funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Communications and the Australian Research Council through the ICT Centre of Excellence Program.

Keywords

  • Forensic voice comparison
  • Likelihood ratio
  • Mismatch compensation
  • Reliability
  • Validity

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