Title: Understanding and analysis of mimicked speech: a case study

Authors: Pallavi S. Marathe; Balasaheb J. Nagare

Addresses: University Department of Physics, University of Mumbai, Kalina, Mumbai-400098, India ' University Department of Physics, University of Mumbai, Kalina, Mumbai-400098, India

Abstract: Laboratory received an intriguing mimicry-based case. In that criminal case, defendant used his mimicked voice to negotiate a financial settlement. The study's goal was to determine whether the mimicked voice actually belonged to the target speaker or not. The study was built on the basis of a dialect, speaking style, and place of articulation. Since no comparable features could be derived using linear predictive analysis, phonetic features were thoroughly explored. The similarity between the accused's mimicked speech and actual voice was proven by glottal leakage (B1). The jitter and shimmer calculations of the disturbances gave information about the accused and the target speaker's ages. However, linguistic, phonetic, and acoustical research helped to bring the case to a successful conclusion. The mimicked voice, the accused's natural voice, and the target speaker's voice could not be spectrographically matched.

Keywords: mimicry; impersonation; formant frequency; spectrographic analysis; voice analysis.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSISE.2024.146193

International Journal of Signal and Imaging Systems Engineering, 2024 Vol.13 No.4, pp.263 - 269

Received: 07 Jul 2022
Accepted: 23 Nov 2022
Published online: 12 May 2025 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article