Durand R. Begault received a PhD in Computer Audio from UC San Diego in 1988 and an MFA from Mills College in 1981. He has been associated with the Audio Forensic Center and Charles M. Salter Associates, Inc. since 1996 and has worked as an expert witness, legal consultant, and acoustical consultant on a variety of audio-related cases since 1988. Dr. Begault also holds a research position at NASA Ames Research Center and is an adjunct faculty member at McGill University. He is the author of several U.S. patents and is qualified as an expert witness in both Federal and State Courts. Dr. Begault has testified in over 40 cases on a variety of audio technology and forensic audio-related cases.
Areas of Expertise:
- Audio Technology Patent / Intellectual Property Analyses
- Forensic Audio and Video Tape Examination / Authentication
- Analysis of Speech, Alarms, Warning Signal Audibility
- Voice Identification and Elimination
- Analysis of ‘Ear Witness’ Testimony
- Enhancement of Speech from Noisy Audio / Video Tape Recordings
- Music Copyright Infringement and Musicological Analysis
- Gunshots
- Acoustical Test and Measurement - Environmental Sound
- Noise Exposure
- Software / Hardware Black Box Testing for Infringement
- Videotape Image Enhancement
- Analysis of Digital Recordings
Please contact the Marketing Department at Charles M. Salter Associates, Inc./Audio Forensic Center for Dr. Begault’s current CV.
View Expert Witness Profile.
By: Dr. Durand R. Begault
Recordings involving cellular telephones or personal digital assistants (“PDAs”) are increasingly the source evidence in audio forensic examinations, compared to recordings originating with other devices such as hand-held digital recorders. On modern PDA cellular telephones recordings can be made either directly to the telephone or transmitted as voice mail messages. The current investigation focuses on differences in the two types of recordings in terms of dynamic range and linearity of levels. Such information can be important for characterizing the distance of sound sources relative to the microphone and are important for understanding transformation of recorded speech and non-speech sounds.
Durand R. Begault, PhD
Written by an author with expertise in both theory and applications, 3D Sound for Virtual Reality and Multimedia provides readers an essential technical foundation in sound and virtual reality. The book covers components of spatial auditory displays; psychoacoustics of spatial hearing; what sounds are appropriate to spatialize; applications to human-machine interfaces (including virtual reality and multimedia); computer music; and room acoustics.
