Audio Tape Enhancement and Noise Reduction

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You only get one chance in the court room. Why risk it?

Almost every client that contacts CFS for enhancement is concerned about dialog intelligibility. Intelligibility of dialog recorded on a tape or digital hand held recorder can make or break a case. Cassette tape is inherently noisy and when a recording is made in such a way that it worsens the signal to noise ratio it becomes problematic.

Transcribing noisy audio is very difficult for many reasons. One significant reason is that the transcription expert when confronted with noise levels that are greater than the content of the dialog can render many areas as [inaudible]
These noise signals are categorized as Continuous noise, Impulse noise and Non Impulse noise.

Here in the CFS lab we have several state of the art software and hardware tools at our disposal for removing or at least minimizing these unwanted signals. Our lab is equipped with some of today's most powerful software programs for enhancing audio recordings and ultimately improving intelligibility.

Have you seen the advertisements on TV for the white noise generator that helps you fall asleep? Or what about when that fan is running in your bedroom and you find it helps you fall asleep quicker and sleep sounder. These are creating noise levels. Do you want the jury to fall asleep during the presentation of your recorded evidence?
Waveform reconstruction is the basis for Forensic Noise removal. The original recording is digitized and analyzed with the computer. Continuous or Impulse noises are recognized with software as it peaks and is compressed or removed depending on the method.

Non Impulse noise is removed in a similar way. Utilizing sophisticated software it is removed or reduced by sampling the offending sound and adjusting the software to recognize its unique pattern. Sometimes it is significantly reduced and other times it is impossible to remove it all without damaging the wanted signal. In that case some must be left in. Audio Tape Enhancement will take a combination of methods to achieve the desired end result. That is why a 30 min tape for instance can take hours to analyze and process. This combination of engineering skills and computer techniques as well as real time processing can in most cases achieve positive results. This all depends on the original recordings state or condition.
 



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