In February, Lancaster hosted a Forensic Voice Comparison workshop hosted by our own Dr George Brown and Soundscape Voice Evidence’s Dr Christin Kirchhübel based here in Lancaster.
The workshop was hosted at the beautiful Lancaster Castle, a fantastic setting for participants to enjoy after their travels from the universities of York, Cambridge, and Marburg! A total of 15 researchers attended the workshop from these institutions.
Throughout the day, forensic voice comparison techniques were compared and discussed (with lots of tea and coffee breaks!) based on a comparison analysis task we had been set by George and Christin, which we prepared prior to our meeting at the castle. We compared our comparison results and presented how we reached a same-speaker or different-speaker conclusion – the room was divided on this one!
Then, lunch was provided for participants in the form of cheese scones, soup, cheese and crackers and brownies.
Following lunch, Christin presented her analysis of the same samples we had analysed prior to the workshop, showing how a forensic speech practitioner would conduct this process. Finally, two mock case reports were presented to give the participants exposure to what a case report may look like, but also to show how they can be improved. Finally, we got the answer as to whether the speaker in the questioned and known speech recordings was the same… no spoilers here though.
Once the workshop came to a close, wind down time commenced at the Stonewall Tap pub with some tasty food from Go Burrito. Following this was a trip to local cocktail bar Tipple for some final drinks of the evening and card games.
Until next time forensic friends – hope to see you at IAFPA 2023 in Zurich!