The study explores vocal responses of distress in authentic and acted forensic situations. Data is drawn from an archive of forensic recordings and comparable scenarios involving actors. The material is subject to acoustic and auditory-phonetic analyses. Results are presented on parameters including fundamental frequency (F0), tempo, intensity, and vowel quality. Findings show that victims and actors in distress generally demonstrate an increase in F0 and intensity overall, an increase in variability of F0 and intensity, and a decrease in tempo. Actors' distress responses differ from those from real victims in vowel quality and their exaggerated increase in F0.
Index Terms. forensic phonetics, distress speech, acted responses