| There are two definitions of forensic transcription | | | | to complete and is a much more tedious task. |
| in use. One use of the term refers to the | | | | Many people, however, use another definition of |
| transcription of any recording that is to be used | | | | the term forensic transcription. This second |
| as evidence in court or even during the process | | | | definition explains it as a scientific process used in |
| of an investigation. Depending on the recording, | | | | the analysis and transcription of marginally |
| the audio quality and intelligibility of the speech | | | | intelligible speech. Speech may be difficult to |
| may be quite good or extremely difficult to | | | | understand for any number of reasons. Examples |
| understand. | | | | include persons with speech impediments or |
| Many evidentiary recordings are made in a | | | | foreign accents, overlapping speech, distant |
| controlled environment with professional grade | | | | speakers, poor quality recording devices, |
| audio equipment and the permission of those | | | | concealed microphones, and noise from traffic, |
| involved. However, other recordings may be | | | | crowds, and other sources. |
| made covertly from a distance or in a noisy | | | | The scientific process of forensic transcription |
| environment, with poor quality equipment, or by | | | | involves professional grade audio equipment and |
| way of inadequate recording methods. These | | | | software and is done in a laboratory setting |
| recordings can be quite difficult to decipher and | | | | where the forensic examiner can listen without |
| sometimes require the skill and knowledge of a | | | | distraction. It can be a very tedious and mentally |
| forensic linguist, or more specifically, a forensic | | | | exhausting process requiring the examiner to |
| phonetician. | | | | listen to sections of audio over and over. |
| Many types of recordings can be considered | | | | A variety of methods may be employed to |
| forensic since anything that is being used as | | | | decipher marginally intelligible speech. Methods |
| evidence falls under the heading of forensic. | | | | include the altering of the playback speed, |
| Examples include suspect interrogations, witness | | | | amplification, looping, and the use of audio filters |
| statements, wire taps, undercover body | | | | to reduce the presence of unwanted frequencies. |
| recordings, general conversations and phone calls, | | | | Also, close attention is paid to syntactic, lexical, |
| audio journals, and 911 calls. Even transcripts of | | | | phonological, and other aspects of an individual's |
| court hearings and depositions can be considered | | | | speech. Finally, a spectrogram, which is a visual |
| forensic but are more often referred to as either | | | | representation of a speech waveform, may be |
| legal or criminal justice transcripts. | | | | used to help identify phonemes (speech sounds) |
| Another aspect of forensic transcription is that | | | | to assist in determining what was said. |
| recordings must be transcribed verbatim. This | | | | This type of forensic transcription is done by |
| means that all speech and other sounds must be | | | | forensic audio examiners, forensic linguists, and |
| transcribed. Even sounds that would normally be | | | | sometimes speech scientists. It is often done for |
| perceived as noise could be a contribution to a | | | | legal purposes and in such cases it would be |
| legal case. Utterances and sounds such as | | | | considered forensic under either definition. |
| stammering, false starts, you-knows, ums, | | | | However, not all difficult to decipher recordings |
| coughs, ringing phones, car alarms, and so-on are | | | | are a concern of the legal system. Marginally |
| included. Business and medical transcriptionists are | | | | intelligible recordings may be of importance to |
| not expected to transcribe all of this "noise." | | | | historians, anthropologists, journalists, speech |
| Verbatim transcription generally takes more time | | | | pathologists, and many others. |