OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Priority Action Report

Speaker Recognition

Digital Multimedia SAC

Dr. Joseph P. Campbell, Chair

Prof. John H.L. Hansen, Vice Chair and Presenter

13 Feb 2017
OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Subcommittee Leadership

Position Name Organization Term Email

Chair Joseph P. Campbell MIT Lincoln 

Laboratory jpc@ll.mit.edu

Vice Chair John H.L. Hansen University of 

Texas at Dallas john.hansen@utdallas.edu

Executive 

Secretary Patrick E. Gibbs Leidos Patrick.E.Gibbs@leidos.com

2
OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Subcommittee Members # Name Organization Term

1 Aaron Lawson SRI 2 

2 Alysha Jeans FBI 3

3 Chris Cieri Linguistic Data Consortium, U Penn 4

4 David Farris U.S. Govt 2

5 David Marks Sandia National Laboratories 3

6 Dick Reeve (Legal Resource Committee)* Denver District Attorney’s Office 3

7 Dorothy Glancy Santa Clara University School of Law 4

8 Douglas Reynolds MIT Lincoln Laboratory 2

9 Jack Godfrey JHU 2

10 Jim Wayman (DMSAC)* San Jose State University 3

11 Joe Campbell (Chair + DMSAC)* MIT Lincoln Laboratory 2

12 John Hansen (Vice Chair) University of Texas at Dallas 3

13 Ken Marr FBI 3

14 Kevin Farrell Nuance Communications 3

15 Larry Solan (DMSAC)* Brooklyn Law School 3

16 Oscar Morales U.S. Govt 3

17 Patrick Gibbs Leidos 3

18 Pedro Torres-Carrasquillo MIT Lincoln Laboratory 4

19 Ray Slyh Air Force Research Laboratory 4

20 Stephen Gibbs U.S. Govt 2

21 Walter Andrews Sierra Nevada Corporation 3

3

* Does not count against OSAC-SR’s Membership quota of 20
OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Subcommittee Affiliates # Name Organization Term

1 Adam Dale BAH

2 Alvin Martin NIST (Ret)

3 Anil Alexander Oxford Wave Research, Oxford

4 Daniel Garcia-Romero JHU

5 Darren Haddad Air Force Research Laboratory

6 Doug Smith US Army

7 Finnian Kelly UT Dallas; Oxford Wave Research, Oxford

8 Geoffrey Stewart Morrison Independent Forensic Consultant, Canada

9 Hiro Nakasone FBI (Ret, First Chair)

10 Jim Loudermilk FBI

11 Jean-François Bonastre Université d’Avignon, France

12 Jennifer Stathakis FBI

13 Jim Horan NIST

14 Jodie Linger FBI

15 Johanna Morley Met Police, London

16 Jos Bouten Ministry of the Interior, The Hague

17 Kathleen Egan CTTSO (Ret)

18 Michael Jessen Bundeskriminalamt (BKA), Germany

19 Mitchell McLaren SRI, Australia

20 Niko Brümmer Agnitio, South Africa

21 Phil Rose ANU, Australia (Ret)

22 Reva Schwartz NIST

23 Roger Campbell/Dave Gebhard FBI

24 Vince Stanford NIST

4
OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Members, Affiliates, 

Representatives and Guests

• OSAC Speaker Recognition Subcommittee currently is

o 17 Members

o 3 Digital/Multimedia Scientific Area Committee representatives

o 1 Legal Resource Committee representative

o 24 Affiliates (including a few Invited Guests for each meeting)

• Hailing from the U.S. Government, U.S. National Labs, 

academia, industry, and international partner organizations

• International guests are invited from organizations in a 

variety of countries including Canada, France, Germany, 

The Netherlands, South Africa, and the United Kingdom

• Interested and qualified individuals may apply to the OSAC

for full membership or to become affiliates in designated 

subcommittees

5
OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Task Groups and 

Ad Hoc Committees

6

Task Groups

• Research, Development, Test & 

Engineering (RDT&E), Chairs

• Dr. Pedro Torres-Carrasquillo

• Mr. Stephen Gibbs

• Best Practices (BP), Chairs

• Mr. Kenneth Marr

• Dr. Raymond Slyh

• Legal Aspect of Speaker 

Recognition (LASR), Chair

• Prof. Dorothy Glancy

• Proposed Task Group

• Verification, Validation & Evaluation

Ad Hoc Committees

• Membership

• Vocabulary I

• Vocabulary II
OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Discipline Description

“Speaker recognition is the process 

of comparing human speech 

samples to determine if they were 

produced by the same speaker.”

– Adopted at the OSAC Kick-Off 

Meeting, Norman, OK, 20-22 Jan 2015

7
OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Subcommittee

Purpose and Objectives

8

Purpose: To support and promote the scientific foundations and practice of speaker 

recognition, voice data collection, measurement, transmission, and retrieval, through the 

development and dissemination of consensus-based standards, guidelines, best practices, 

and recommendations for forensic and investigatory applications

Objectives: Speaker Recognition Subcommittee shall engage in:

• Identifying the scope, theories, and practice areas of the disciplines of voice biometrics, 

speaker identification, voice data collection, measurement, transmission, and retrieval

• Recommending guidelines for conducting speaker recognition examinations, including 

data preparation, data collection, quality assessment, compression, decompression, 

transmission protocols, results, reports, and terminology

• Proposing standard procedures for data interpretation and wording of conclusions 

presented in court

• Suggesting education, training, and continuing education requirements for practitioners

• Promulgating and disseminating research and development priorities to the community

• Collecting and distributing discipline-specific information on scientific foundations

• Seeking international recognition and harmonization of appropriate work products
OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Summary of Priority Projects

Priority OSAC 

Process Working Title of Document

1 SDO “Forensic Speaker Recognition Should-Be Process 

Map,” Best Practices, 2017

2 RA or SDO,

parent ANSI

“Guidelines for Electronic Transmission of Speech 

Files,” Peter H. & Best Practices, 2016 (with DMSAC)

3 RA or SDO “Speech Collection Guideline for Speaker 

Recognition: Audio Collection at a Temporary 

Location,” RDT&E, Kavi, 1/1/17

4 RA

(reference)

“Concise Glossary of Speaker Recognition Terms,” Ad

Hoc Vocabulary Committee and Best Practices 

5 n/a

(reference)

“Annotated List of Important Speaker Recognition 

Cases,” LASR

9
OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Standards/Guidelines Development

Priority 1 Document

Document Title: “Forensic Speaker Recognition As-Is Process 

Map”

Scope: Map of as-is practices for forensic speaker recognition

Objective/rationale: Create forensic speaker recognition maps 

to structure our activities. Develop a should-be process map 

to inform our guidelines and standards development.

Issues/Concerns: Proper evaluation of paths through process 

map using realistic data and use cases with relevant 

subsystems

Task Group Name: Best Practices

Task Group Chair Name: Kenneth Marr and Raymond Slyh

Task Group Chair Contact Information: 

Kenneth.Marr@ic.fbi.gov and raymond.slyh@us.af.mil

Date of Last Task Group Meeting: 2017

10
OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Standards/Guidelines Development

Priority 1 Document

Key Components of Standard: 

• Building blocks representing atomic units of speaker 

recognition processes with descriptions of each block’s 

inputs, outputs, parameters, states, and internal processes

• Groups of building blocks representing speaker recognition 

subsystems

• Path through the blocks representing an instance of an endto-end speaker recognition process

• A single process map can support many instances

• Attempt to document all practices and note where individual 

labs differ in their processes

11
OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Priority 1: “Forensic Speaker 

Recognition As-Is Process Map”

Task Group/Subcommittee Action Plan

Planned Actions OSAC Process Stage 

(e.g., SDO 100) Assignee EstimatedCompletion Date

Create high-level as-is Process Map (PM) 

containing main sections and block descriptions.

Best 

Practices

Begin 2/6/2017

Adding sub-task processes (such as “processing,” 

etc.) to the as-is PM

n/a

(reference)

Best 

Practices

May 2017

Technical and research review of as-is document 

to identify tasks/processes that can move directly 

to the should-be map, extract tasks/processes 

that either don’t move on at all, or need research 

and/or development to move on to the what 

should be process map

n/a

(reference)

Best 

Practices

w/ NIST 

support

Fall 2017

Development of what should-be process map. 

The Process Stage for the Process map as-is is a 

reference only. The Process Stage for the Process 

map of “what should be” to become a standard

SDO Best 

Practices

w/ NIST 

support

Spring 2017

12
OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Standards/Guidelines Development

Priority 2 Document

Document Title: “Guidelines for Electronic Transmission of Speech 

Files”

Scope: Guidelines for the use of ANSI/NIST-ITL Type 11 Voice 

Records to electronically transmit speech files

Objective/rationale: Guidelines and recommendations are needed 

for Type 11 Voice Records implementation to enable standardization 

of voice data transactions by using the “ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: 

Update 2015”

Issues/Concerns: OSAC-SR approved the draft submitted in April 

2016 and elevated to DMSAC, waiting for action

Task Group Name: Best Practices

Task Group Chair Name: Kenneth Marr and Raymond Slyh

Task Group Chair Contact Information: 

Kenneth.Marr@ic.fbi.gov and raymond.slyh@us.af.mil

Date of Last Task Group Meeting: 2017

13
OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Standards/Guidelines Development

Priority 2 Document

Key Components of Guideline/Standard: 

• History of the ANSI/NIST ITL Standard and its use in criminal 

justice systems and forensic case work

• Role of Type-11 voice Records in Speaker Recognition 

casework with an example in the case of the comparison of 

two voice recordings

• Design and implementation considerations to include data 

formats and the transmission of transactions

14
OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Priority 2: “Guidelines for the use of 

ANSI/NIST-ITL Type 11 Voice 

Records”

Task Group/Subcommittee Action Plan

Planned Actions

OSAC Process 

Stage (e.g., SDO 

100) 

Assignee Estimated

Completion Date

A designated team within Best 

Practice Task Group will work with 

the Department of Defense, 

Defense Forensic and Biometric 

Agency and the FBI Criminal 

Justice Information Services 

Division to create 1st draft

RA or SDO

(parent is an 

ANSI/NIST-ITL 

standard)

Peter Higgins 6/1/2015

2nd draft Peter Higgins 9/30/2015

Final draft Peter Higgins 2/1/2016

Approved draft by OSAC-SR Peter Higgins 4/2016

Elevated to DMSAC RA or SDO Peter Higgins 2016

15
OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Standards/Guidelines Development

Priority 3 Document

Document Title: “Speech Collection Guideline for Speaker 

Recognition: Audio Collection at a Temporary Location”

Scope: This guideline is intended to be one of a series, and covers 

only one scenario - the collection of speech samples for speaker 

recognition at a temporary, non-laboratory location.

Objective/rationale: Instruct an interviewer, who need not be 

technical, to create recordings in the field that are likely to be 

appropriate for speaker recognition applications.

Issues/Concerns: Proper evaluation using realistic data and use 

cases with relevant subsystems

Task Group Name: RDT&E

Task Group Chair Name: Pedro Torres and Stephen Gibbs

Task Group Chair Contact Information: 

ptorres@ll.mit.edu and segibbs.work@gmail.com

Date of Last Task Group Meeting: 2017

16
OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Standards/Guidelines Development

Priority 3 Document

Key Components of Guideline/Standard: 

• Introduction, scope, references, terms

• Speech Collection Scenario: Audio Collection at a 

Temporary Location

o Collection Environment

o Collection Equipment

oSpeech Collection

• Appendices

oPossible Known-Text Phrases for the Subject

oExamples of Images to Elicit Speech Samples

17
OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Priority 3: “Speech Collection Guideline 

for Speaker Recognition: Audio 

Collection at a Temporary Location”

Task Group/Subcommittee Action Plan

Planned Actions OSAC Process Stage 

(e.g., SDO 100) Assignee EstimatedCompletion Date

“Audio Collection at a Temporary 

Location” draft document ready for 

Subcommittee approval

RA or SDO RDT&E Task 

Group Co-Chairs

July 2016 OSAC 

meeting in 

Phoenix

Ballot on "Speech Collection Guideline 

for Speaker Recognition: Audio 

Collection at a Temporary Location," 

Version 1.9, 31 July 2016 

RA or SDO RDT&E Task 

Group Co-Chairs

11 Nov 2016

Revise document with comments from 

ballot

RA or SDO RDT&E Task 

Group Co-Chairs

1 Jan 2017

Accepted revised document version 

1.10, 1 Jan 2017

RA or SDO OSAC-SR 11 Jan 2017 VM#3

Elevate to DMSAC RA or SDO OSAC-SR Chair Feb 2017

18
OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Standards/Guidelines Development

Priority 4 Document

Document Title: “Concise Glossary of Speaker Recognition 

Terms”

Scope: Subcommittee terminology reference

Objective/rationale: Support the development of consistent 

guidelines and standards within the Subcommittee and 

improve intra and inter Subcommittee communications

Issues/Concerns: Focus on the terminology used within 

OSAC SR documents, resist grander and international scope

Task Group Name: Ad Hoc Vocabulary Committee

Task Group Chair Name: Joe Campbell and Chris Cieri

Task Group Chair Contact Information: jpc@ll.mit.edu

Date of Last Task Group Meeting: 2017

19
OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Standards/Guidelines Development

Priority 4 Document

Key Components of Guideline: 

• Selection

oVocabulary from OSAC SR documents beginning with the process 

map

o Terms having definitions within the discipline that do not match 

their generic sense

• Scope

o Construct definitions as they apply to the (growing body) of OSAC 

SR documents

o Reference external definitions, uses only where necessary to avoid 

ambiguity

• Target audience: educated readers who are no expert in 

speaker recognition, linguistics or standard processes

20
OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Priority 4: “Concise Glossary of 

Speaker Recognition Terms”

Task Group/Subcommittee Action Plan

Planned Actions

OSAC Process 

Stage (e.g., 

SDO 100) 

Assignee Estimated

Completion Date

“Vocabulary Terms for 

Speaker Recognition”

RA Vocabulary Ad 

Hoc Committee I

2016, but died in 

committee

Restart, “Concise Glossary of 

Speaker Recognition Terms”

RA Joe Campbell 

Vocabulary Ad 

Hoc Committee II

26 July 2016, 

OSAC Phoenix

“Concise Glossary of Speaker 

Recognition Terms” draft 2

RA Joe Campbell July & Aug 2016

“Concise Glossary of Speaker 

Recognition Terms” draft 3

RA Joe Campbell 14 Nov 2016

“Concise Glossary of Speaker 

Recognition Terms” draft 3

RA Chris Cieri, begin 

committee review

11 Jan 2017

21
OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Standards/Guidelines Development

Priority 5 Document

Document Title: “Annotated List of Important Speaker 

Recognition Cases”

Scope: Analysis of US federal and state reported cases in 

which Speaker Recognition plays a role. Identify relevant legal 

rulings with regard to forensic application of speaker 

recognition techniques in US courts. Annotate types of cases.

Objective/rationale: Provide a sense of trends regarding how 

the US legal system treats speaker recognition methods

Issues/Concerns: Far fewer cases than expected (precedents)

Task Group Name: Legal Aspect of Speaker Recognition

Task Group Chair Name: Prof. Dorothy Glancy

Task Group Chair Contact Information: dglancy@scu.edu

Date of Last Task Group Meeting: 2017

22
OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Standards/Guidelines Development

Priority 5 Document

Key Components of Standard-Setting Reference: 

• Annotated list of reported court decisions and order in 

which speaker recognition issues arise

• Description of important court precedents regarding speaker 

recognition issues

• Assistance

oSupport other Speaker Recognition task groups developing 

standards and guidelines

oOutreach to legal communities with regard to modern speaker 

recognition technologies

o Coordination with OSAC Legal Resource Committee

23
OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Priority 5: “Annotated List of 

Important Speaker Recognition 

Cases”

Task Group/Subcommittee Action Plan

Planned Actions

OSAC Process 

Stage (e.g., 

SDO 100) 

Assignee Estimated

Completion Date

Task Group LASR will update 

the annotated list every 6 

months

n/a

(reference)

LASR Task Group 

Chair: Dorothy 

Glancy

Every 6 months 

(next meeting Feb 

2017)

24
OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Summary of Priority Projects

Priority OSAC 

Process Working Title of Document

1 SDO “Forensic Speaker Recognition Should-Be Process 

Map,” Best Practices, 2017

2 RA or SDO,

parent ANSI

“Guidelines for Electronic Transmission of Speech 

Files,” Peter H. & Best Practices, 2016 (with DMSAC)

3 RA or SDO “Speech Collection Guideline for Speaker 

Recognition: Audio Collection at a Temporary 

Location,” RDT&E, Kavi, 1/1/17

4 RA

(reference)

“Concise Glossary of Speaker Recognition Terms,” Ad

Hoc Vocabulary Committee and Best Practices 

5 n/a

(reference)

“Annotated List of Important Speaker Recognition 

Cases,” LASR

25

Great progress on all topics, including nearing completion on 2 & 3!
OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Standards/Guidelines Reviewed 

For Technical Merit

Title Developing 

Organization Status*

OSAC Process 

Stage (e.g., RA 

100)

“Forensic Speaker Recognition Should-Be

Process Map,” Best Practices

TBD SDO Go to DMSAC 

in 2018

SDO

“Guidelines for Electronic Transmission of 

Speech Files,” Peter H. & Best Practices, 2016

RA or TBD SDO 

(parent ANSI)

With DMSAC 

since mid 2016

RA or SDO

“Speech Collection Guideline for Speaker 

Recognition: Audio Collection at a Temporary 

Location,” RDT&E, Kavi, 1/1/17

RA or TBD SDO Expected to go 

to DMSAC in 

Feb 2017

RA or SDO

“Concise Glossary of Speaker Recognition 

Terms,” Ad Hoc Vocabulary Committee

RA Go to DMSAC 

in 2017

RA

26
OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Research & Development Needs 

Identified

• Proper evaluation of speaker recognition methods

• Realistic data for use in evaluation (and development)

o Data that addresses similarity and typicality and has relevant 

population statistics (or at least a start in this direction)

o Development of a standard reference dataset for use by 

researchers and examiner community

o Forensic casework involves variables not yet studied, for which 

we lack realistic data

oSeek carefully controlled access to case data that cannot be 

realistically recreated in a lab (e.g., physical harm, terror) 

• Realistic use cases be exercised in evaluations

oWith relevant systems/subsystems

• Verification/validation of the suitability of tools for a given 

case

o Today’s technologies are developed on data whose suitability 

must be considered in addition to the technology

27
OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Additional Items of Interest

• The community also needs

o Better performing systems

o Knowledge about performance of different listener types

o Comparison of performance between listeners and automated 

systems

• Please visit the OSAC Speaker Recognition Subcommittee

28

OSAC 

Kick-Off 

Meeting, 

Norman, 

Oklahoma 

20-22 Jan 

2015
OSAC Speaker Recognition

AAFS, New Orleans, 13 Feb 2017

Priority Action Report

Speaker Recognition

Digital Multimedia SAC

Dr. Joseph P. Campbell, Chair

Prof. John H.L. Hansen, Vice Chair and Presenter

13 Feb 2017
30