Criminal voices: The transfer of sound-based expertise in Cold War forensics

The article explores the transnational circulation of sound-based expertise that came together in the establishment of audio forensics in Cold War Poland and Czechoslovakia. It is the first to study the Polish Phonoscopy Lab, the first ever audio forensic police department, founded in 1963 to carry out original research on speaker identification and distorted speech. It shows the complexity of sound dissection science behind the Iron Curtain, where detailed methodology, the use of precision technological equipment, and the application of up-to-date phonetic, acoustic, and linguistic knowledge, as well as practical guidelines for trained group listening, were developed. It argues that by developing such methodology, the Polish and Czechoslovak phonoscopy labs were leading the way in reformulating the notion of sound-based objectivity in forensics. By examining the transfer of methods, theories, technological devices, and visions between the Cold War East and West, the article shows that from the point of view of the development of expertise, there were specific advantages of the embeddedness of forensics in the structures of the totalitarian state, which granted access to technologies, ensured a steady supply of cases, and simplified investigation procedures.