Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

Overview of Audio Forensics

  • Chapter
Intelligent Multimedia Analysis for Security Applications

Part of the book series: Studies in Computational Intelligence ((SCI,volume 282))

Abstract

Audio forensics applies the tools and techniques of audio engineering and digital signal processing to study audio data as part of a legal proceeding or an official investigation of some kind. This chapter summarizes the principal audio forensic tasks, including authentication, enhancement, and interpretation. The chapter explains the relevant procedural and historical background, presents several examples of audio forensic applications, and reviews several important areas for future research and development.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Advisory Panel on White House Tapes, The executive office building tape of June 20, 1972: report on a technical investigation. United States District Court for the District of Columbia (1974)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Audio Engineering Society, AES27-1996: AES recommended practice for forensic purposes – Managing recorded audio materials intended for examination (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Audio Engineering Society, AES43-2000: AES standard for forensic purposes – Criteria for the authentication of analog audio tape recordings (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Begault, D.R., Brustad, B.M., Stanley, A.M.: Tape analysis and authentication using multi-track recorders. In: Proc. Audio Eng. Soc. 26th Conf. Audio Forensics in the Digital Age, Denver, CO (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Boll, S.: Suppression of acoustic noise in speech using spectral subtraction. IEEE Trans. Acoust. Speech and Signal Processing ASSP-29, 113–120 (1979)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Bolt, R.H., Cooper, F.S., David, E.E., Denes, P.B., Pickett, J.M., Stevens, K.N.: Identification of a speaker by speech spectrograms. Science 166, 338–342 (1969)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Bolt, R.H., Cooper, F.S., David, E.E., Denes, P.B., Pickett, J.M., Stevens, K.N.: Speaker identification by speech spectrograms: a scientist’s view of its reliability for legal purposes. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 47, 597–612 (1970)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Bolt, R.H., Cooper, F.S., Green, D.M., Hamlet, S.L., McKnight, J.G., Pickett, J.M., Tosi, O.I., Underwood, B.D.: On the theory and practice of voice identification. Nat. Acad. Sci. (1979)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Brixen, E.B.: Techniques for the authentication of digital audio recordings. In: Proc. Audio Eng. Soc. 122nd Conv. Paper 7014 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Brixen, E.B.: ENF—quantification of the magnetic field. In: Proc. Audio Eng. Soc. 33rd Conf. Audio Forensics—Theory and Practice, Denver, CO (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Brustad, B.M., Freytag, J.C.: A survey of audio forensic gunshot investigations. In: Proc. Audio Eng. Soc. 26th Conf. Audio Forensics in the Digital Age, Denver, CO (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Byrne, G.: Flight 427: anatomy of an air disaster. Springer, New York (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Cooper, A.J.: The electric network frequency (ENF) as an aid to authenticating forensic digital audio recordings – an automated approach. In: Proc. Audio Eng. Soc. 33rd Conf. Audio Forensics—Theory and Practice, Denver, CO (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Godsill, S., Rayner, S.P., Cappé, O.: Digital audio restoration. In: Kahrs, M., Brandenburg, K. (eds.) Applications of Digital Signal Processing to Audio and Acoustics. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Grigoras, C.: Digital audio recording analysis: the electric network frequency (ENF) criterion. Int. J. Speech Language and the Law 12, 63–76 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Grigoras, C.: Application of ENF analysis method in authentication of digital audio and video recordings. In: Proc. Audio Eng. Soc. 123rd Conv. Paper 1273 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Koenig, B.E.: Spectrographic voice identification: a forensic survey. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 79, 2088–2091 (1986)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Koenig, B.E.: Authentication of forensic audio recordings. J. Audio Eng. Soc. 38, 3–33 (1990)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Koenig, B.E., Lacey, D.S., Killion, S.A.: Forensic enhancement of digital audio recordings. J. Audio Eng. Soc. 55, 252–371 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Lim, J.S., Oppenheim, A.V.: Enhancement and bandwidth compression of noisy speech. Proc. IEEE 67, 1586–1604 (1979)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Maher, R.C.: Audio enhancement using nonlinear time-frequency filtering. In: Proc. Audio Eng. Soc. 26th Conf. Audio Forensics in the Digital Age, Denver, CO (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Maher, R.C.: Modeling and signal processing of acoustic gunshot recordings. In: Proc. IEEE Sig. Proc. Soc. 12th DSP Workshop, Jackson, WY (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Maher, R.C.: Acoustical characterization of gunshots. In: Proc. IEEE SAFE 2007: Workshop on Signal Processing Applications for Public Security and Forensics, Washington, DC (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Maher, R.C., Shaw, S.R.: Deciphering gunshot recordings. In: Proc. Audio Eng. Soc. 33rd Conf. Audio Forensics—Theory and Practice, Denver, CO (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Maher, R.C.: Audio forensic examination: authenticity, enhancement, and interpretation. IEEE Sig. Proc. Mag. 26, 84–94 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. McAulay, R., Malpass, M.: Speech enhancement using a soft-decision noise suppression filter. IEEE Trans. Acoust. Speech and Signal Processing ASSP-28, 137–145 (1980)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Moorer, J., Berger, M.: Linear-phase bandsplitting: theory and applications. J. Audio Eng. Soc. 34, 143–152 (1986)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Musialik, C., Hatje, U.: Frequency-domain processors for efficient removal of noise and unwanted audio events. In: Proc. Audio Eng. Soc. 26th Conf. Audio Forensics in the Digital Age, Denver, CO (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  29. National Academy of Sciences, Report of the Committee on Ballistic Acoustics. National Academy Press, Washington (1982)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Owen, T.: Forensic audio and video—theory and applications. J. Audio Eng. Soc. 36, 34–40 (1988)

    Google Scholar 

  31. Poza, F., Begault, D.R.: Voice identification and elimination using aural-spectrographic protocols. In: Proc. Audio Eng. Soc. 26th Conf. Audio Forensics in the Digital Age, Denver, CO (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  32. Sachs, J.S.: Graphing the voice of terror. Popular Science (2003), http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2003-02/graphing-voice-terror (Cited August 7, 2009)

  33. Scientific Working Group on Digital Evidence, SWGDE best practices for forensic audio, Version 1.0 (2008), http://www.swgde.org/documents/swgde2008/SWGDEBestPracticesforForensicAudioV1.0.pdf (Cited August 7, 2009)

  34. Stearman, R.O., Schulze, G.H., Rohre, S.M.: Aircraft damage detection from acoustic and noise impressed signals found by a cockpit voice recorder. In: Proc. Nat. Conf. on Noise Control Eng., vol. 1, pp. 513–518 (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  35. Tsoukalas, D.E., Mourjopoulos, J.N., Kokkinakis, G.: Speech enhancement based on audible noise suppression. IEEE Trans. Speech Audio Processing 5, 479–514 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Electrical & Computer Engineering Department, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, 59717-3780, USA

    Robert C. Maher

Authors
  1. Robert C. Maher
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. TOBB ETÜ Computer Engineering Department, Sögütözü Cad.No:43, Sögütözü, 06560, Ankara, Turkey

    Husrev Taha Sencar

  2. Computing, Information Systems and Mathematics, Kingston University London, Penrhyn Road, KT1 2EE, Surrey, UK

    Sergio Velastin

  3. Department of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Box 451, GR-54124, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Nikolaos Nikolaidis

  4. France Telecom R&D (Orange Labs) Beijing, Raycom Infotech Park C, 2 Science Institute South Road, Haidian District, 100080, Beijing, China

    Shiguo Lian

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Maher, R.C. (2010). Overview of Audio Forensics. In: Sencar, H.T., Velastin, S., Nikolaidis, N., Lian, S. (eds) Intelligent Multimedia Analysis for Security Applications. Studies in Computational Intelligence, vol 282. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11756-5_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11756-5_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-11754-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-11756-5

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics