Open & shut case: No two voices match

The Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory (CFSL), Chandigarh, on Saturday confirmed that the voice samples of Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai d...

The Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory (CFSL), Chandigarh, on Saturday confirmed that the voice samples of Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai do not match with those supposedly of the actors on the controversial tapes sent to the laboratory for analysis by the Mumbai Police. The transcripts of copies of those tapes had been published in The Hindustan Times in July.

In an exclusive interview to The Indian Express, explaining the technique used to analyse the Salman-Aishwarya tapes, a senior expert of CFSL, Chandigarh — who supervised the team of scientists and experts examining the tapes — said: ‘‘We were sent three tapes by the Mumbai police in which the samples of the stars’ original voices had been recorded. We tallied the voice samples with those figuring in the (controversial) tapes by using a computerised voice analysis system and came to the conclusion that the voices do not match.’’ This is how experts approached the analysis with the help of 30 minutes of voice samples:

Step 1: They played the original voice samples on the computerised platform and broke it into seconds

Step 2: They further broke each second into different parts

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Step 3: Then they played their sounds on a computer, attached to a digital printer on which a graph was formed, depending upon the resonance, pronunciation, slang of the speaker, pitch and depth and volume

Step 4: The procedure was repeated and every time similar graphs were received

Step 5: The voices on the controversial tapes were played in the same manner

Step 6: The two sets of graphs did not match.

Step 7: The procedure was repeated by different scientists, the results were the same

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Step 8: After collecting all the information and cross-checking it with the team members and seniors, CFSL prepared the report and sent its opinion back to the Mumbai Police.

‘‘In no case, can the speaking mechanism of one person match with another. It is as distinguishing as our fingerprints,’’ the senior expert said.

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