Voice lineups: A practical guide

In this article the authors aim to offer some practical advice for phoneticians being confronted with a voice parade request for the first time, by providing a detailed description of a parade carried out successfully in the UK. The methodology used in this parade is based on a number of studies on earwitnesses carried out since the 1990s. However, it primarily builds on the work by Nolan [5] for general advice on the construction of parades and on Rietveld and Broeders [7] for measuring the similarity of voices. In addition, useful ways are suggested to instruct and train identification officers involved. Special care is taken to ensure an efficient and smooth execution of the parade, keeping the risk of errors to a minimum. Finally, general issues important to voice parades are raised and discussed.