Syllabus
Main topics:
1. Fundamental concepts2. Sources of variability between speakers3. Aural-perceptual approach4. Acoustic analysis5. Formulating conclusions and statistical methods in forensic phonetics6. Ethical issues in forensic phonetics
Annotation
The course introduces speaker identification, focusing on the mostfrequent tasks in forensic phonetic practice. Emphasis is laid on the combination of the aural-perceptual approach with acoustic analysis of relevant speech parameters. An integral part of the course includes practical analyses of speech samples, from high (laboratory) quality to samples distorted in a controlled way to those coming from actual forensic cases; the limitations in forensic phonetic practice will emerge from these analyses.
This MA-level course presumes knowledge of acoustic and articulatory characteristics of speech, as well as the ability to perform acoustic analyses of the speech signal, at least at the level of the course Acoustics of Speech I.