Word: kersta
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Conceived in 1941 as a way for the deaf to "read" speech, the voice-print machine analyzes patterns of frequency and amplitude, transcribing each variation into a spectrogram. One of the chief developers, Physicist Lawrence Kersta, claims that everyone's voiceprint is as unique as his fingerprints, and that any skilled technician can identify a voiceprint with more than 99% accuracy. Other scientists have disputed his claims...
...strip of paper on a slowly revolving drum, the stylus traced out distinctive patterns, or voiceprints, that were determined by the frequencies, loudness and duration of each of the phonemes. Finally, after a night in which he painstakingly compared the patterns produced by phonemes from the two tapes, Kersta concluded that they had all been uttered by the same person. He reported to the Telegraph that he was "100% sure" that the voice on the Israeli tape was that of President Nasser...
Convicting Evidence. Kersta's conclusion-and his voiceprint technique-is based on the principle that every individual's voice is as unique as his fingerprints. Because the frequencies and energy distribution of the human voice are determined by the size and coupling of the nasal, throat and oral cavities and by the manner in which each person uses his articulators (tongue, teeth, lips, soft palate and jaw muscles), Kersta says, it is highly improbable that any two voices can be identical. Thus, voiceprints, like fingerprints, can be used to make a positive identification. Whispering, muffling the voice, changing...
Since he developed the voiceprint system at Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1962, Kersta has worked with law enforcement agencies on more than 100 cases involving voice identification. His voiceprints were used to convict a rioter in the Watts area of Los Angeles who, with his back to the camera, admitted to a TV interviewer that he had set fire to five different buildings. Last year voiceprints were admitted as evidence in a jury trial in New York...
Voiceprints have also received implicit recognition by the State Department, which sent a Middle East expert to help Kersta examine the Israeli tape. But Washington had good reason to believe that the tape was authentic even before Kersta's analysis: neither Nasser nor Hussein ever denied that the recorded voices were theirs...