Interest in forensic audio investigation has piqued in the past few years. It can be attributed to a rising general interest in forensic science thanks to television shows and movies. When it comes down to it, work done in this field is based on the pioneer work of scientists who worked tirelessly during World War II. There are many fields in forensic audio that makes use of many software, gadgets, and substances such as ferrofluid.

The Different Fields

There are four major fields in forensic audio. They are audio enhancement, speaker identification, audio authentication, and forensic transcription. There are also a number of other services and procedures that can be classified as their own fields, but these are the most popular ones that are practiced in the world most frequently.

First off is audio enhancement. It is the most well-known due to movies and television shows depicting it so often. However, its depiction in Hollywood is wrong and fraudulent. It is not very like that you can take an inaudible and garbled conversation and enhance it to produce a clear audio stream. What it does is filter out or cut unwanted noise from a recording to get to the victim or perpetrator's speeches. It is not a miracle worker, but modern software and equipment have improved a lot. There are still limitations though.

Audio authentication is a field that involves authenticating audio on tape or in digital files. It is a way to make sure that the recordings have not been tampered in any way. A magnetic liquid called ferrofluid is very important in the examination of audio or video tapes. It allows examiners to see the magnetic patterns on a tape, letting them analyze its structure to figure out if it was changed in any way or not. It is also used to determine if a tape has been recorded over or erased and left blank.

What Forensic Audio Examiners Need to Have

This field is very technical due to its reliance on machines. Those interested in this field have to have a knack for mechanical devices, especially recorders, tape machines, and other such things. They should also have in-depth knowledge of physics, especially magnetism and the structure of tapes.

Computers have become essential with the advent of digital audio. Digital audio authentication requires extensive knowledge in computers; examiners also have to use various other devices to help figure things out. They also need to understand and analyze electric network frequency data, perform spectrum and waveforce analysis, and more.

The field of audio forensics is still developing. Gadgets and magnetic liquid such as ferrofluid play important roles in how examiners perform in their duty. It is a very important part of law enforcement that many people often overlook.