Like digital forensics, audio forensics is a field that involves the identification, acquisition, analysis, preservation and evaluation of sound recordings that provide critical evidence in a criminal or fraudulent case. Audio forensic experts help with public and private investigations and help law enforcement officials solve issues. Modern high-tech equipment is used to carry out the various processes in audio forensics.
Get the services
Audio forensic services are offered by trained and experienced experts in the field. Audio forensics establishes the authenticity of audio evidence by increasing sound audibility and interpreting important recordings, conversations or suspects. It is used to help in providing helpful information about accidents or the crime scene. Usually, this job requires adaptive filtering skills and techniques.
The objective of Audio Forensics
The primary mode of communication is speech, and it can be recorded. Such recordings can be used to detect crime. The main objective of audio forensics is to:
- To identify whether the audio recording under question has been tampered with or not.
- To enhance speech quality in the audio recording.
- To determine the speaker in the audio recording under question.
Types of Audio Forensic Investigations
Here is a look at some of the investigations involved in audio forensics:
- Authenticity: When an audio forensic expert determines the authenticity of a particular piece of media file, they authenticate the chain of custody. They use audio forensic software to validate the originality of the file. The expert also verifies if there is any addition, substitution, deletion or other alterations made to the recording.
- Enhancement: When the audio quality of a recording is compromised, audio forensic experts enhance it. Many things can compromise the quality of a media file, such as distortion, loud external noise that overlaps with the original, or an unbalanced signal-to-noise ratio. Unnecessary noise is reduced to bring crucial parts of the conversation to the fore.
- Interpretation: Similar to the previous investigations, an audio forensic expert may be given audio recordings to evaluate the relevance of the contents to the case. This involves the interpretation of background noise for evidence, identifying the situation and so on. This also requires speech recognition and speaker identification.
Reliable services
Law enforcement agencies, as well as public and private investigations nowadays, have become increasingly reliant on audio forensics. If an audio recording is vital evidence in a case, it must be admissible in court. This cannot happen if the recording is unintelligible. This is where audio forensic examiners come into the picture.
The ultimate evidence
When an audio recording needs to be submitted as evidence, they can hire audio forensic services. The audio forensic examiner can clean, enhance or even discover audio elements in a recording that no one noticed before. Depending on the quality of the original recording, there is a wide range of services that these experts can provide. With the increasing number of people using various recording modes to capture different moments, audio forensics will continue to play an important role in investigations and bringing criminals to justice.