Voice-Based Identification and Contribution to the Efficiency of Criminal Proceedings

Abstract

Today, forensic voice identification is a powerful tool in the fight against crime, in situations where it is necessary to identify a suspect or to acquit an innocent person. In this type of expertise, multidisciplinary approach is applied in which several scientific disciplines are included - linguistics, phonetics, acoustics, psychology, mathematical statistics, law and criminalistics. The perpetrator’s voice is characterized by pitch, volume, timbre, or tone of the sound produced i.e., a series of individual characteristics that make each individual's voice, regardless of the variations expressed, suitable for identification. Some of these characteristics are natural features, determined by hereditary and physiological factors, and some are acquired habits. The aim of this paper is to present the most commonly used procedures and methods of analysis-assessment of voice and speech in order to identify persons as well as more modern approaches to the analysis of the speech signal.