By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
The chair emeritus for the American Board of Recorded Evidence, Tom Owen, and Ed Primeau, a Michigan-based audio engineer and forensics expert, have independently concluded that the furtive pleas for help clearly heard on the 911 tapes are not George Zimmerman’s. Both acknowledged experts used voice enhancing software, but different techniques, to rate the probability of the voice being Zimmerman’s at no more than 48%. A 90% match is considered scientifically reliable.
In a report published by the Orlando Sentinel, Owen said he derived his conclusions based on biometric analysis. “It basically just means using personal characteristics for identification. A fingerprint scanner is an example of a biometric device. Much as the ridges of a human hand produce a fingerprint, each human voice has unique, distinguishable traits, Owen says. ‘They’re all particular to the individual.'” The expert recently used the technique to identify the accused killer of Sheila Davalloo in a 911 call made almost a decade ago.
Owen, who also served as the chief engineer for the New York Public Library’s Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound, said that, “as a result of [the testing], you can say with reasonable scientific certainty that it’s not Zimmerman.”
Ed Primeau agreed but went further, saying that, under the known circumstances, ” I believe that’s Trayvon Martin in the background, without a doubt. That’s a young man screaming.” Primeau used the technique of voice enhancement to reach his conclusion. Unlike biometric analysis, his method does require an in-context sample of the voice for testing.
An article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer published in 2010 describes the 66-year-old Owen and his cohort, Stuart Allen, this way:
[The pair have] more than six decades of experience between them in the forensic audio profession. They’ve worked with the FBI and other federal agencies, police departments, private detectives, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and news organizations. Many courts have designated them as expert witnesses. They’re good friends who sometimes are on opposing sides, but respect each other’s abilities. “Both of us are known as sort of contrarians,” Owen said.
Primeau is a former sound engineer in the movie industry who worked with
pop stars Anita Baker, Bob Seger, and Barry Manilow. Primeau has over thirty years of experience in voice identification and is a registered investigator for the American College of Forensic Examiners. He describes his work in voice identification as:
There can sometimes be differences in speech patterns that can help identify clues in your identification puzzle. I look for several similarities as well as differences, nasal resonance differences, voice tone with regard to inflection both similarities and differences.
The test results seem to present another blow to Zimmerman’s credibility who claimed that it was his voice on the tape — and not the African-American teen — heard crying out for help mere seconds before the fatal gun shot.
It is likely that similar audio testing is being conducted by the FBI’s Digital Evidence Laboratory’s Forensic Audio, Video, and Image Analysis Unit, based in Quantico, Virginia. Should they reach the same conclusions as Owen and Primeau, Zimmerman would almost certainly face charges in the death. An opposite result would go a long way in substantiating his claim of self-defense.
Source; msnbc; Orland Sentinel; Cleveland Plain Dealer
~Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
AY:
Even the best lawyer can’t change facts. Ask Roy Black. If they prove to be as the reports have shown, it will be hard for a jury not to convict Zimmerman of manslaughter.
I just heard Zimmermans new attorney on the news….. I may not agree with his position… Nor do I know his record…..but he is very credible… Win or not in this case… I was impressed… His name is Hal Ulrig…. He seems like a good strategic move in this case….
anon:
if I ever need you to edit something for me, I’ll just scrape you off my shoe and put you in front of a keyboard. No one’s calling BS except you and your storm front cronies. Attack away. Your gun-happy pal will be facing the consequences soon enough.
OS,
Rectal Inversion, or butt hoovering, has VERY LUCKILY not been an issue for me. At least not so far. Although, I don’t think I’d ever admit it if it was.
“DrMike, everyone has an all-thumbs day. Some suffer from foot-in-mouth disorder as well. Others have rectal inversion problems. Some poor souls have all three at the same time.”
Speaking of mespo, I still think he owes Professor Turley and Professor Turley’s readers an update with the new information regarding the FBI and NRC calling bullshit on voice identification and the fact that “expert” Tom Owens has a financial conflict of interest and there are plenty of other experts saying what Owens (and Primeau) did was irresponsible unbelievable woo.
But if he wants to duck and run, just post crap and never admit his mistake, well I guess the proper title for him is “Attorney Mespo”.
DrMike, everyone has an all-thumbs day. Some suffer from foot-in-mouth disorder as well. Others have rectal inversion problems. Some poor souls have all three at the same time.
Sorry for my misspelling It’s what I get for trying to post via my phone.
I’ve got a friend who does work in a lab. He watched the crime shows just to point out everything that wrong with what they do. I would vebture a guess that it has taken about 10 years off the end of his life! I imagine he’ll let it go one day. I could only get that riled up if I made myself listen to Rush.
Dr. Mike, I don’t watch TV crime dramas for two reasons. First, I don’t have the time to waste on the one-eyed monster. Second, the crime dramas on the TeeVee machine bear as much resemblance to real crime investigations as “Doogie Howser, MD” did to the real practice of medicine.
Agreed, I think many more other compelling points will be provided.
I don’t want TV crime dramas so I wasn’t drawing from that experience. I interjected because my undergraduate degree is in speech pathology and my grad work is in the field of audiology and hearing science.
Dr. Mike, you are correct on those points of course. From a forensic analysis point, they do not need a 100% match to make an ID. In that respect it can be considered analogous to a fingerprint. Contrary to popular belief and what you see on TV dramas, most crime scene fingerprints are not “pure,” but more commonly smudged or partials. If enough points are present, a match can be made. Same with voiceprints.
It is far easier to rule somebody out than to positively ID a voice. That is what appears to have happened here. Zimmerman did not come close to have enough matching points on the audio that has been released. So, no match likely, to a reasonable scientific certainty. The FBI lab will do a much more thorough job than that which has been done so far. Best policy is to just wait and see what comes from the investigation.
Otteray Scribe,
You’re right, there are many harmonic components to the indenfication of voicing (the primary being the fundamental frequency), however, many of those change significantly when yelling or whispering. Then, on top of that, you have the restruction of the phone frequencies (which some of the harmonics would fall into that range)
Those two confounding factors would making matching or proving a non-match more difficult.
I think there are many other more compelling factors in the case, however, this analysis isn’t going to sway much one way or the other.
I apologize for my very late response.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/trayvon-martin-enhanced-zimmerman-video-shows-possible-head-2280408.html
Please . . . continue.
I’m sorry. Did I break your concentration?
Whatever you want to think, 2112.
“Gene H.
1, April 3, 2012 at 10:59 pm
mespo,
Non mentis gets my vote. I know he’s not talking to me unless he’s mistaken me for someone who cares what lunatics think.”
That’s right Gene, instead of acknowledging your error, learning, apologizing, and moving on, you stick your fingers in up your ass, slide them past your face and into your ears and shout “LA LA LA LA I CAN’T HEAR YOU”.
Bravo!
“I agree. I simply delete when I see his name since I have no time for fools.”
And that’s the tough problem of the world.
You get sucked in by OS, who the FBI shows here to be completely demented and fraudulent, and by Mespo who has repeatedly demonstrated his own incomptence and does so once more, and by Gene H, who tells us how much he too relies on the nice suits,
But when the hacker with a critical brain calls out the 1, 2, 3s that are obvious to all critical thinkers, you find yourself unable to recognize truth, and go by the cover of the book, the cover that the frauds taught you how to respect.
I read the same newspaper articles, did the primary research, used by knowledge and experience, and called this out as bullshit while the rest of you gesticulated madly in its properties of transubstantiation.
Arthur Randolph Erb, it might behoove you to listen more often to the fools and think twice about those you trust.
The self-claimed experts OS, mespo, Gene clearly got it 100% wrong in this case, and the so-called fool, once more, was dead balls on accurate.
Think about that, think about your statement.