1230-7483
Effect of musical education on accuracy of identification in a voice parade
Wpływ kształcenia się w kierunku muzycznym na trafność rozpoznania podczas okazania mowy
Woldan
Piotr
author
Okręgowa Rada Adwokacka w Krakowie
Correspondence to: Piotr Woldan piotrjanwoldan@gmail.com
16
12
2025
142–143
2025
157
183
Copyright © 2025
2025
Voice lineup is a possible form of an identification parade conducted during an investigation. It could occur in cases where the perpetrator’s appearance was not observed by the victim or witness, and only the voice was heard. Some of the factors that could impact the accuracy of voice recognition, such as age of the witness, retention interval and whether the voice was heard live (at crime scene) or through a mobile phone, have already been the subject of some studies.<br />The aim of the study was to examine the impact of the following factors: music education, retention interval and gender. The experiment was conducted with a total of 129 participants, both musically and non-musically educated. The participants were asked to listen to a short voice recording simulating a true event and then (after the retention interval of 1 week or 2 weeks) to listen to a recorded lineup of 6 female voices. Following that, they were asked to try to identify the perpetrator’s voice. The results revealed no statistically significant difference between musically educated and non-musically educated participants, and similarly, no significant difference was found based on gender or confidence rating. A nearly significant decrease in accuracy was observed among the participants with a longer retention interval. Nevertheless, the maximum level of accuracy was only 55% which implies low reliability of voice recognition evidence. There results must be taken into consideration by authorities if a voice lineup is used, especially to treat voice recognition evidence with caution.
[
1. Postanowienie Sądu Najwyższego z dnia 26 maja 2004 r., sygn. V KK 22/04, LEX nr 121992.
]
[
2. Wyrok Sądu Apelacyjnego w Lublinie z dnia 12 marca 2002 r., sygn. II AKa 39/02, LEX nr 76032.
]
[
3. Wyrok Sądu Apelacyjnego w Lublinie z 5 lipca 2017 r., sygn. II AKa 116/17, LEX nr 2355880.
]
[
4. Karczmarska D. Glosa do postanowienia SN z dnia 26 maja 2004 r., V KK 22/04, Wojskowy Przegląd Prawniczy. 2005;3:140-144.
]
[
5. Winiarska K. Efektywność holistycznej metody nauczania emisji głosu. Doctoral dissertation. Katowice: Uniwersytet Śląski; 2021.
]
[
6. Gruza E. Okazanie. Problematyka kryminalistyczna. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Comer; 1995.
]
[
7. Kajstura M, Michałek M, Trawińska A. Ekspertyza fonoskopijna. In: Kała M, Wilk D, Wójcikiewicz J, editors. Ekspertyza sądowa. Zagadnienia wybrane. Wyd. 3. Warszawa: Wolters Kluwer; 2023. p. 774-834.
]
[
8. Wójcikiewicz J. Okazanie głosu i mowy. Problemy Współczesnej Kryminalistyki. 2002;5:205-209.
]
[
9. Tomaszewski T, Rzeszotarski J. Wybrane aspekty okazania mowy. Problemy Kryminalistyki. 2010;268:5-13.
]
[
10. Juszka K. Perspektywa doskonalenia systemu wykrywalności sprawców przestępstw. Prokuratura i Prawo. 2009;7-8:219-230.
]
[
11. Lisiecki MJ. Metodyka okazania. Studium procesowokryminalistyczne. Toruń: TNOiK Dom Organizatora; 2021.
]
[
12. Home Office Circular 057/2003. Advice on the use of voice identification parades. London: Crime Reduction and Community Safety Group, Police Leadership and Powers Unit. Available from: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20130125153221/https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/advice-on-the-use-of-voice-identification-parades
]
[
13. Robson J. A fair hearing? The use of voice identification parades in criminal investigations in England and Wales. Crim Law Rev. 2017;36(1):36-50.
]
[
14. Clifford BR. Memory for voices: the feasibility and quality of earwitness evidence. In: Lloyd-Bostock SM, Clifford BR, editors Evaluating witness evidence. Recent psychological research and new perspectives. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons; 1983. p. 189-218.
]
[
15. Bull R, Clifford BR. Eyewitness testimony. Med Sci Law. 1999;39(2):120-127. https://doi.org/10.1177/002580249903900206
]
[
16. Hanley JR, Smith T, Hadfield J. I recognise you but I can’t place you. An investigation of familiar-only experiences during tests of voice and face recognition. Q J Exp Psychol. 1998;51A(1):179-195. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/713755751
]
[
17. Damjanovic L, Hanley JR. Recalling episodic and semantic information about famous faces and voice. Mem Cogn. 2007;35:1205-1210. https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03193594
]
[
18. Piątkowski K. Okazanie (studium kryminalistyczne). Szczytno: WSO; 1983.
]
[
19. Bigelow J, Poremba A. Achilles’ ear? Inferior human short-term and recognition memory in the auditory modality. PLoS One. 2014 Feb;9(2):e89914. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0089914
]
[
20. Yarmey AD, Yarmey AL, Yarmey MJ. Face and voice identification in showups and lineups. Appl Cogn Psychol. 1994 Oct;8(5):453-464. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.2350080504
]
[
21. Olsson N, Juslin P, Winman A. Realism of confidence in earwitness versus eyewitness identification. J Exp Psychol Appl. 1998;4(2):101-18. https://doi.org/10.1037/1076-898X.4.2.101
]
[
22. Kerstholt JH, Jansen NJ, Van Amelsvoort AG, Broeders AP. Earwitnesses: effects of accent, retention and telephone. Appl Cogn Psychol. 2006;20(2):187-97. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/acp.1175
]
[
23. Öhman L, Eriksson A, Granhag PA. Overhearing the planning of a crime: do adults outperform children as earwitnesses? J Police Crim Psychol. 2011;26(2):118-27. doi.org/10.1007/s11896-010-9076-5
]
[
24. Öhman L, Eriksson A, Granhag PA. Mobile phone quality vs. direct quality: how the presentation format affects earwitness identification accuracy. Eur J Psychol Appli to Leg Context. 2010 July;2(2):161-182.
]
[
25. Wójcikiewicz J. Glosa do wyroku Sądu Najwyższego z 9 lipca 2013 r., III K 92/13. Palestra. 2014;3-4:204-208.
]
[
26. Sherrin C. Earwitness evidence: the reliability of voice identifications. Osgoode Hall Law J. 2015;52(3):819-862. https://doi.org/10.60082/2817-5069.2957
]
[
27. Ferenc K. Głos zza drzwi, czyli okazanie głosu po polsku. In: Moskal D, Wąsik P, editors. Ślady pamięciowe. Aspekty psychologiczne i kryminalistyczne. Kraków: Biblioteka Katedry Kryminalistyki i Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego; 2013. p. 59-69.
]
[
28. Bull R, Clifford BR. Earwitness voice recognition accuracy. In: Well GF, Loftus EF, editors. Eyewitness testimony: psychological perspectives. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press; 1984. p. 92-123.
]
[
29. Biederman-Zaręba A. Przesłuchanie osób w podeszłym wieku. Unpublished Doctoral dissertation. Kraków: Jagiellonian University; 2013.
]
[
30. Bull R, Rathborn H, Clifford BR. The voice-recognition accuracy of blind listeners perception. 1983;12(2):223-226. https://doi.org/10.1068/p120223
]
[
31. Pang W, Xing H, Zhang L, Shu H, Zhang Y. Superiority of blind over sighted listeners in voice recognition. J Acoust Soc Am. 2020 Aug;148(2):EL208-EL213. https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0001804
]
[
32. Olsson N, Juslin P, Winman A. Realism of confidence in earwitness versus eyewitness identification. J Exp Psychol Appl. 1998;4(2):18-118. https://doi.org/10.1037/1076-898X.4.2.101
]
[
33. Orchard TL, Yarmey AD. The effects of whispers, voice sample duration, and voice distinctiveness on criminal speaker identification. Appl Cogn Psychol. 1995;9:249-260. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.2350090306
]
[
34. Wilding J, Cook S. Sex differences and individual consistency in voice identification. Percept Mot Skills. 2000;91(2):535-538. https://doi:10.2466/pms.2000.91.2.535
]
[
35. Roebuck R, Wilding J. Effects of vowel variety and sample length on identification of a speaker in a line-up. Appl Cogn Psychol. 1993;7(6):475-481. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.2350070603
]
[
36. Thompson CP. Voice identification: speaker identifiability and a correction of the record regarding sex effects. Hum Lear J Pract Res Appl. 1985;4:19-27.
]
[
37. Skus VG, Schweinberger SR. Gender differences in familiar voice identification. Hear Res. 2013 Feb;296:131-140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heares.2012.11.004
]
[
38. Chan AS, Ho YC, Cheung MC. Music training improves verbal memory. Nature 1986;396:128. https://doi.org/10.1038/24075
]
[
39. Ho YC, Cheung MC, Chan AS. Music training improves verbal but not visual memory: cross-sectional and longitudinal explorations in children. Neuropsychology. 2003;17(3):439-450. https://doi.org/10.1037/0894-4105.17.3.439
]
[
40. Bidelman GM, Gandour JT, Krishnan A. Cross-domain effects of music and language experience on the representation of pitch in the human auditory brainstem. J Cogn Neurosc. 2010;23(2):425-434. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2009.21362
]
[
41. Deguchi C, Boureux M, Sarlo M, Besson M, Grassi M, Schön D, et al. Sentence pitch change detection in the native and unfamiliar language in musicians and non-musicians: behavioral, electro physiological and psychoacoustic study. Brain Res. 2012;1455:75-89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2012.03.034
]
[
42. Burnham D, Brooker R, Reid A. The effects of absolute pitch ability and musical training on lexical tone perception. Psychol Music. 2014 Sep 18;43(6):881-97. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735614546359
]
[
43. Neves L, Correia AI, Castro SL, Martins D, Lima CF. Does music training enhance auditory and linguistic processing? A systematic review and meta-analysis of behavioral and brain evidence. Neurosc Biobehav Rev. 2022 Sep 1;140:104777. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104777
]
[
44. Moreno S, Marques C, Santos A, Santos M, Castro SL, Besson M. Musical training influences linguistic abilities in 8-year-old children: more evidence for brain plasticity. Cereb Cortex. 2008 Oct 1;19(3):712-23. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhn120
]
[
45. Wong PC, Perrachione TK. Learning pitch patterns in lexical identification by native English-speaking adults. Appl Psycholinguist. 28 Sept 2007;28(4):565-85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0142716407070312
]
[
46. Parbery-Clark A, Strait DL , Kraus N. Context-dependent encoding in the auditory brainstem subserves enhanced speech-in-noise perception in musicians. Neuropsychologia. 2011 Oct;49(12):3338-45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.08.007
]
[
47. Xie X, Myers E. The impact of musical training and tone language experience on talker identification. J Acoust Soc Am. 2015 Jan;137(1):419-32. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4904699
]
[
48. Broeders AP, van Amelsvoort AG. A practical approach to forensic earwitness identification: constructing a voice line-up. Problems of Forensic Sciences 2001;47:237-245.
]
[
49. Broeders AP, Rietveld AM. Speaker identification by earwitnesses. Beiträge zur Phonetik und Linguistik 1995;64:24-40.
]
[
50. Clifford BR, Denot H. visual and verbal testimony and identification under conditions of stress. Unpublished manuscript. London: North East London Polytechnic; 1982.
]
[
51. Yarmey AD, Matthys E. Voice identification of an abductor. Appl Cogn Psychol. 1992;6:367-377. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.2350060502
]
[
52. Wójcikiewicz J. Temida nad mikroskopem. Judykatura wobec dowodu naukowego 1993-2008. Toruń: TNOiK; 2009.
]
[
53. Herbowski P, Słapczyńska D. Okazanie mowy w praktyce śledczej. Palestra. 2016;7-8:49-53.
]
[
54. Strait DL , Kraus N, Parbery-Clark A, Ashley R. Musical experience shapes top-down auditory mechanisms: Evidence from masking and auditory attention performance. Hear Res. 2010;261(1-2):22-29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heares.2009.12.021
]
[
55. Kerstholt JH, Jansen NJ, Van Amelsvoort AG, Broeders AP. Earwitnesses: effects of speech duration, retention interval and acoustic environment. Appl Cogn Psychol. 2004;18(3):327-336. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/acp.974
]