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Speech Quality Enhancement in Digital Forensic Voice Analysis

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Computational Intelligence in Digital Forensics: Forensic Investigation and Applications

Part of the book series: Studies in Computational Intelligence ((SCI,volume 555))

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Abstract

The influence of noise and reverberation in Digital Forensic voice evidence can conceal the identification, verification and processing of crime data. Computationally, the efficiency in processing speech signals largely depends on the integrity and authenticity of audio/voice recordings. Our interest is on improving integrity, vis-à-vis the intelligibility of speech signals. We achieved this in four folds. First, a speech quality enhancement technique that cleans and rebuilds defective speech data for quality Forensic analysis is proposed by exploring an optimal estimator for the magnitude spectrum, where the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) coefficients of clean speech are modelled by a Laplacian distribution and the noise DFT coefficients are modelled using a Gaussian distribution. Second, an automatic speech pre-processing algorithm for phoneme segmentation of raw speech data, capable of iteratively refining Hidden Markov Model (HMM) speech labels for improved intelligibility is introduced. Third, a simulation of the distortion from a quantised R-bit and computation of the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) for the signal to quantisation noise is carried out for the purpose of managing speech signal distortions. Fourth, an investigation of the effect of confused phonemic and tone bearing unit features on the intelligibility of speech is presented to assist Forensic experts decode voice disguise or language “barriers” that may impede proper Forensic voice analysis. Results obtained in this investigation reveal a future of prospects in the field of Forensic intelligence and is most likely to reduce unnecessary setbacks during Forensic analysis.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University of Uyo, Uyo, Nigeria

    Moses Ekpenyong & Okure Obot

  2. Centre for Speech Technology Research (CSTR), University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Moses Ekpenyong

Authors
  1. Moses Ekpenyong
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  2. Okure Obot
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Moses Ekpenyong .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Software Engineering Faculty of Information and, Technical University of Malaysia Melaka (UTeM), Durian Tunggal, Malaysia

    Azah Kamilah Muda

  2. Department of Software Engineering Faculty of Info. and Comm. Tech., Technical University of Malaysia Melaka (UTeM), Durian Tunggal, Malaysia

    Yun-Huoy Choo

  3. Scientific Network for Innovation and Research Excellence, Machine Intelligence Research Labs (MIR Labs), Auburn, Washington, Washington, USA

    Ajith Abraham

  4. Dept. of Computer Sci. and Engineering Center of Excellence for Document, The State University of New York SUNY, Buffalo, New York, USA

    Sargur N. Srihari

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Ekpenyong, M., Obot, O. (2014). Speech Quality Enhancement in Digital Forensic Voice Analysis. In: Muda, A., Choo, YH., Abraham, A., N. Srihari, S. (eds) Computational Intelligence in Digital Forensics: Forensic Investigation and Applications. Studies in Computational Intelligence, vol 555. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05885-6_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05885-6_18

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-05884-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-05885-6

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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