Research in forensic speech science

Programme

Programme

Contact hours

4 contact hours per week: 2 lectures, 2 labs.

Teaching programme

Topics to be covered include:

• speaker comparison
• speaker profiling
• analysing disputed utterances
• automatic systems
• likelihood ratios
• legal precedents and legal practice with respect to speech and language evidence
• report writing and delivery of evidence in court.

Outcomes should include:

• an understanding of the practical methods used in forensic speech analysis, particularly in speaker comparison, and their associated problems;
• an understanding of the key research issues in forensic phonetics and acoustics;
• an understanding of how to design research projects in the forensic domain;
• practical experience of speaker comparison and other applications of phonetics and acoustics in the forensic domain.

Teaching materials

Essential readings will be identified each week. Key readings are available in a course pack or on-line.

Assessment

Assessment

Two case reports:

• The first is 2,000 words
  • Weight: 40%
• The second is 3,000 words
  • Weight: 60%