Recording devices are everywhere – in businesses, traffic intersections, parking lots, bank machines, police vehicle dashboards, on the officers themselves, cell-phones. Chances are if people are around, someone is recording. These sources of recorded audio and video can assist in an investigation or prosecution considerably. Sometimes this evidence makes or breaks the entire case!
But only if you can hear what is being said, and/or determine who is speaking. This is where a digital forensic expert can help. Digital Forensic Experts have many techniques to enhance recordings that can bring out details and provide a clearer understanding of what occurred. Making audio recordings more “audible” and video clearer.
As you may know, just having the tools is not enough. It takes years of experience working in the field to understand how to best apply those tools and get the most out of every resource available.
Repair and Recovery of Evidence
Evidence may first need to be repaired or recovered before it moves on to forensic audio analysis. Sometimes the recording device has been damaged by heat, misuse, environmental conditions of a crime scene, or even on purpose by the offender. Even in these situations, the files can be recovered and used for analysis.
The most common challenge for forensic audio experts is to clarify a recording so that it is more apparent to investigators, attorneys and jurors what the evidence demonstrates. Recordings are often made in less than ideal circumstances, such as when someone is wearing a body wire. Utilizing our resources and experience, faint voices or events can be heard more clearly upon playback.
The second challenge we face is to confirm the identity of people or objects on a recording. Please see Voice Identification for more information.
We are also asked to authenticate recordings. In many cases the authenticity and/or the content of the recording may be called into question. Digital Forensic Experts can examine a variety of characteristics to determine whether the evidence has been altered. This includes confirming the integrity (verification) of the recording, as well as authenticating that the content is what it purports to be.
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