Forensics

Dominic Arkwright talks to Professor Peter French of York University about the art and science of forensic acoustics, including speaker profiling, voice line-ups, and sound enhancement.

Developments in new technology mean that sound recordings can be examined and prepared for use in extortion, blackmail and murder trials. Also, the proliferation of digital recordings in all walks of life mean that copies of recordings for evidential purposes can now be taken from mobile telephones, voicemail services, digital dictaphones, digital answer phones and other devices. So just how much information can be extracted from a phone call, and how much of ourselves do we reveal in conversation?

Producer: John Byrne
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2011.