IAFPA (International Association of Forensic Phonetics and Acoustics)
Definition
The professional organisation for forensic phoneticians, founded in 1991 following the collapse of the voiceprint paradigm. Maintains a code of conduct, annual conference, and publishes the International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law.
- Founded
- 1991
- Founding context
- After the voiceprint identification paradigm collapsed
- Journal
- International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law
- Governs
- Code of conduct, annual conference
Common questions
Why was IAFPA founded specifically in 1991?+
By the late 1980s the earlier spectrographic voiceprint method had lost scientific credibility, and phoneticians working in casework wanted a body built around auditory-acoustic and linguistic methods rather than the discredited visual pattern matching, prompting the association's formation.
What distinguishes IAFPA from IAVI, an earlier voice identification body?+
IAVI trained examiners in spectrographic voiceprint comparison, a method later rejected by scientific review. IAFPA instead promotes combined auditory and acoustic-phonetic analysis with explicit uncertainty reporting, marking a methodological break rather than a continuation.
Related terms
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