Identifying Dr Schneider's voice: an adventure in forensic speaker identification

Abstract

A number of problems associated with speaker identification by lay persons are discussed in this case report. It is argued that the specific circumstances of the identification procedure(s) and factors such as subjects' emotional states, personal attitudes (toward the speaker in question) as well as semantic content and type of speech material used may heavily bias their judgements. On the other hand, 'conventional' forensic voice comparisons carried our by professionals should provide clear-cur results even under severe constraints. It is argued that speaker identification by lay persons, if indispensable to a case, should be carried out only by means of a fully-fledged, classical voice lineup procedure. A practical illustration is provided.