Obtaining forensic phonetics expertise
Hiring someone with expertise in Forensic Phonetics
If you need someone to prepare evidence for a legal case, it is very important to hire someone with suitable qualifications in the particular branch of phonetics that relates to your case. Forensic phonetics has offered valuable help in countless cases. However, as we saw on the previous page, there have been embarrassing cases of people without appropriate qualifications providing poor quality evidence. There are serious limitations on the ability of phonetic science to give reliable evidence and it is essential that your expert is fully aware of these. The International Association for Forensic Phonetics and Acoustics (IAFPA) has drawn up a Code of Practice to help ensure that legal evidence respects these limitations.
If you need someone to work on a particular project for you, check out the Forensic List email discussion list - but please use caution to ensure you hire someone who is appropriately qualified for the particular task you want them for.
Studying forensic phonetics
Forensic phonetics is a relatively new field, and few universities have a discrete discipline of forensic phonetics. However, recently several courses have appeared which offer advanced study of phonetics with a particular focus on forensic issues. One I know of is University of York's MSc in Forensic Speech Science. You can also find short courses in various aspects of forensic phonetics at http://www.thetext.co.uk/. Information about other study options can be found on Sue Blackwell's site.
Traditionally, the way to get into forensic phonetics has been to study phonetics to a high level and then seek opportunities to use that expertise in forensic applications. If you do this, there are several important things to bear in mind. The main one is to stay strictly within your specific area of expertise. Another is to frame your evidence in ways that are not only useful to the courts but also remain true to the fundamental tenets of linguistics and phonetics.
My advice would be to research the field and then make contact with someone who has done a lot of work in this area and ask to discuss some of the issues. A good way to get an impression of the field would be to read the International Journal of Speech Language and the Law, or attend an IAFPA conference. Check the IAFPA website for further information on past and future conferences.
Good sources of general information and discussion are the Forensic List email discussion list maintained by Sue Blackwell, or the linguistlist mailing list.