Forensic Science International 288 (2018) 1-12

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Forensic Science International

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/forsciint

Electric Network Frequency (ENF) signatures

Fábio A. Martinsa
a Nottingham Trent University, 50 Shakespeare Street, Nottingham NG1 4FQ, United Kingdom

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Article History:
The frequency of power grids is ideally regular, yet from the nominal value (50Hz
Available online 17 April 2018 or 60Hz) it can slowly vary over time by a few mHz. This current which is usually referred
as Electric Network Frequency (ENF) can be inflicted by these power systems on digital
recordings, and as result can provide an effective and powerful forensic tool which has led
Keywords:
to a strong and continuous growth of research in this field of Forensic Science.
ENF Criterion The present study will use the ENF as a tool to determine the authenticity of content
Authenticity and originality of the audio recordings as well as investigate the influence of the magnetic
field in the expression of this signals. The “time/frequency domain” spectrograms method
Digital Audio Recording was performed using the software package DC Live Forensics. Results showed that ENF
Magnetic Field unique points from the UK are similar between the recordings made in this country for a
given time window, but the same does not happen for the Portuguese ENF signals. It was
Forensic Audio
also possible to detect a discontinuity of the time-frequency representation of ENF signals
Tampering on two recordings, suggesting evidences of tampering in modified files. Finally, the test of
the magnetic field showed that a charger could weaken the expression of the ENF signals,
suggesting that this transformer could cancel the magnetic field around itself. Therefore, it
was recognizable that the magnetic field has a big roll on the capture of ENF signals.
In conclusion, the proposed technique for digital audio authentication based on the
fluctuation of the ENF was satisfactory for the ascertainment of the exact time of recordings
and whether they were modified. It was also possible to conclude that the grid of Great
Britain is not synchronized with the grid of Continental Europe. The author would suggest
future research in this field, the use of all the methods to extract the ENF signals combined
and the use of those signals captured by video cameras. The author would also underline
the requirement for innovative work going for enhanced ENF examination with shorter
frame sizes.
© 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction forensic audio examiner is to determine the

In the forensic field, physical evidence is very
important to build the sequence of the facts that
occurred in a particular crime and may help in the
accusation of innocence or guilt of those involved.
Recording tapes are used as criminal evidence due to
its content, which might be talks recorded directly
from a microphone or even phone calls. Nowadays,
with the use of digital technology, copy, modify or
change the content of the audio signals it is a simple
and easy task to do. Therefore, one of the tasks of a
authenticity of content and originality of the audio
records, so that these can be accepted as evidence in
legal procedures.
We are all surrounded by modern devices or
machines which have electric circuits and wires from
which carry current. These currents that are delivered
to our household electric appliances fluctuate with
time and will produce magnetic fields in space which,
therefore, will also experience variation with time
(Sadiku 2007).

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According to Faraday’s law of electromagnetic
induction, discovered by the English scientist
Michael Faraday in 1831, there will be a production
of an electromotive force, in other words, a voltage,
when a magnetic field interacts with an electric
circuit. The opposite process, electric currents
generating magnetic fields in space, was also proven
to be true. When electrical devices are plugged into a
wall socket there is an electromotive force whose
point of supply is an electric generating station
(Young and Freedman 2015). The current produced
by these stations differs from countries to countries,
however, in United Kingdom, Europe and a lot of
other countries, the frequency varies 50 times per
second (50Hz) whereas in the United States of
America and a few other regions, the current runs at
60 times per second (60Hz). The frequency of these
power systems is ideally regular, yet from the
nominal value (50Hz or 60Hz) it can slowly vary over
time by a few mHz because of the system dynamics
response to modifications in load like differences
between consumed and produced energy (Dosiek
2015; Grigoras 2005). This current which is usually
referred as Electric Network Frequency (ENF) can be
inflicted by these electric power systems on digital
recordings, and as result can provide an effective and
powerful forensic tool which has led to a strong and
continuous growth of research in this field of
Forensic Science (Hua and Thing 2017; Dosiek
2015).
The electric network is made out of a source and
a gathering of loads. The source receives an
extremely high voltage current from the generating
station and outputs it, by a transformer, at a voltage
either 360 V or 240 V which is low enough to be used
in a home or an office. Whereas loads are electrical
devices such as a kettle, television, computer, etc. that
can all be connected to a single source and that use
the current previously provided by the source.
The first work in this forensic field was
performed by Catalin Grigoras (2005) who explained
that the fact of finding the same frequency through
every load (offices, houses, labs) in an electric
network is due to the electromagnetic wave
propagation.
The currents surrounding us will generate a
magnetic field that will induce a current in any
conductor present in the area where the magnetic
fields are converted. For instance, a piece of wire
transmitting a signal from a microphone to the
recording device will be affected by the magnetic
field and as a result, will also experience a current at
50 or 60 Hz induced in it (Bencsik 2016). This current
at such frequency is usually so low that makes it
impossible to be heard and notice it by ear. This does
not mean, however, that it is not present on every
single audio recording. In fact, the vast majority of
sound recordings if performed in close proximity to
the electric network will present a measurable signal
at 50 or 60 Hz, and occasionally its harmonics as
well. The same would not happen if a file was
recorded very far away from the electric network
such as, for instance, in the countryside with a
microphone plugged into a laptop running from
batteries.
The ENF can be used as a “fingerprint” of a
digital recording as the power system frequency
present on these currents has a random component
which is unique for a given time window (Dosiek
2015). The ENF principle is based on two important
properties: intra-grid consistency and tiny random
fluctuation. Firstly, at the same period in time, the
variation of ENF value in interconnected power grids
is effectively identical at all and any in the power
system. Therefore, the extracted frequency signal
captured by electric devices can be matched with a
valid ground reference collected from an ENF
database. Secondly, fluctuations of frequency over an
extensive period of time, caused by the varying load
in power grid, are not repeatable in these networks
(Kajstura, Trawinska and Hebenstreit 2005; Young
and Freedman 2015). ENF fluctuations can range
from 0.1 to 2.0 Hz which are caused by
electromechanical dynamics and vary from location
to location (Dosiek 2015).
So, when using a digital equipment to record for
instance a conversation, not only the main speech is
captured but also the ENF signal which will be
present in the same file as the recording. Even if this
signal cannot be noticed it by ear, digital processing
of the assessed audio might usually reveal the ENF
signal.
Despite the fact of the presence of ENF signals in
also video recordings, the current study will only
focus on digital audio recordings. As a result, it is
important to be aware of the main concepts regarding
digital recordings such as sample rate, resolution,
Nyquist’s theorem, audio files and fast Fourier
Transform (FFT). The sample rate is usually
represented in Hertz (Hz) and is referred as the
number of samples in a second being used to quantize
the waveform. In a recording, the resolution will be a
function of the rate at which those waveforms are
sampled according to Nyquist’s theorem. This
hypothesis states that the frequency must be half the
sampling rate, in other words, this means that the
latter must be twice that frequency since a waveform
of a specific frequency is represented by two distinct
sample points. For instance, an audio recording with
frequencies up to 60 Hz will be represented by a
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sample rate of 120 Hz. Digital audio files can be
recorded in compressed or uncompressed formats.
However, most frequently, in order to reduce the size
of the file, these records are compressed. Such
procedure utilizes compression algorithms to achieve
a file with smaller size and will either compress the
recording in a way that creates a perpetual
debasement of the original audio waveform or, at
best, will make no inconvenient impact on the sound
when played back if it is compressed losslessly. So,
if a digital audio file is being appraised and is in a
compressed format such as MPEG-4, it is essential to
convert it to an uncompressed file like WAV to reach
the most and best ideal outcomes. Finally, the FFT is
used for frequency analysis and consists of an
algorithm that converts an audio signal over a period
of time to its frequency domain (Grigoras and Smith
1.1.1
2012).
This study will demonstrate how a forensic scientist
can help the courts when faced with the evidence of
audio files. From authentication to tamper detection
in audio files, this study will provide an important
tool of the ENF Criterion, as well as new suggestions
to provide examiners, experts and even lawyers with
new weapons to combat the world of digital crime
which will allow the production of strong and
irrefutable evidence. The proposed technique of
digital audio authentication based on the fluctuation
of the ENF will be focusing on the ascertainment of
the exact time of recordings and whether they were
modified. This technique will provide visual
information that will allow the observation of the
fluctuations to locate the points at which the signal
have been modified and to infer the nature of
manipulation. This study will also prove the
importance of the magnetic field in the detection of
ENF signals.
2. Material and methods
This study was performed according to the
method presented by Grigoras (2007) for assessing
the integrity of digital audio recordings analysis and
for extracting the ENF pattern from it.
This experiment was performed in five sections
according to the analysis of the audio samples,
tampering of audio files, validation of the reference
files, recording of the reference ENF files, extraction
of ENF signals and test of the magnetic field.
2.1 Audio samples
In order to authenticate a digital audio recording
it is necessary to have two recordings, the one who is
being assessed and a reference one, also called
database, and from which will be extracted the ENF
signals and compared with each other. The first step
was to record the audio samples from where were
then analysed against a database previously done for
each one of these records. The audio samples were
recorded by third parties using a built-in microphone
present on their laptops which were made sure that
they were plugged into the power socket. These audio
files were created in the Nottingham city centre, in
Clifton and in Lisbon, Portugal with a duration of
between 20 and 30 minutes. They were done using
the free Windows software “Voice Recorder” which
produces by default settings an MPEG-4 file. This
digital multimedia container format was then
converted into a WAV file using an online audio
converter (available at https://audio.online-
convert.com/convert-to-wav).
2.1.1 Tampering
The tampering in the files of this investigation
was done by the author of this study with the free
Windows software “Audacity 2.2.1”. The files were
modified from original recordings, including the
audio sample created in Lisbon.
2.2 Validation of the reference files
Despite the fact of not existing an open national
database, a real-time demand data over the last 60
minutes of the UK “Rolling System Frequency” was
obtained from BM Reports and compared against an
audio file recorded at the same time as the previous
one.
2.3 ENF reference files
On the other hand, reference files of ENF were
created as continuous recordings in a room in the
Nottingham city centre under control conditions by
the author of this study. These files were made sure
to be running at the same time as the testing audio
recordings. This means that when an audio sample
was being recorded, the database recording was
already running so that the sample would be between
the start and end of this database. The ENF database
was created using a microphone attached to
headphones (headset) and connected to a laptop
plugged-in to the power source. It was used the free
Windows software “Audacity 2.2.1” to record and
save the reference ENF recording. Following the
Nyquist theorem, these files were saved as WAV
pulse-code modulation (PCM) at 120 Hz sampling
rate, 16-bit resolution and mono channel.
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2.4 Extraction of ENF signals from audio samples between random positions as exemplified in the
figure below.
The “time/frequency domain” spectrograms
method was performed and for that, the digital audio
recordings signals were processed and analysed using
the software package DC Live Forensics (version
7.11). The “Voice Recorder” software produces files
with stereo channels, therefore they were split into
two mono files and it was used one of these for the
assessment. Using the “change sample rate” option,
the testing file was downsampled to 120 Hz, right
before being band-pass filtered with a low of 49 Hz
and high of 51 Hz cut frequencies (24dB/octave,
Butterworth). Processed the audio recordings, the
spectrograms were finally computed at either 4096 or
8192 points FFT and analysed using a zoom around Figure 2. Schematic illustration of the magnetic field
50 Hz. The 4096 FFT size was used when the ENF test by moving the microphone between random
fluctuations varied 150 mHz or more from the 50 Hz positions.
value. On contrary, the 8192 FFT size was used when
there was a more stable ENF signal with fluctuations
not ranging more than 150 mHz. The third and last test was performed according
to the previous illustration, but this time with the
laptop unplugged from the power socket.
2.5 Test of the magnetic field
In order to test how the magnetic field in space
could interact with the ENF signals captured by a 3. Results
microphone (connected to a laptop plugged into a
3.1 Analysis of the audio files
wall socket), several tests were performed playing
with the positions of the microphone and laptop as The following audio files assessed for
well as plugging it or not to the power socket. The authentication will be compared to a reference ENF
first test was done with a laptop plugged into the recording. In order to validate the latter, a comparison
power socket and moving the microphone by the
between this one and a live database, collected from
positions of a circumference divided by angles of 45
degrees for 5 minutes each. The figure 1 easily BM Reports, of the “Rolling System Frequency”
illustrates what was previously stated. from the power grid of the United Kingdom was
made.
The comparison between the ENF live database
of the UK power grid (figure 3.a) and the ENF
spectrogram obtained from a homemade recording
offers an excellent framework (figure 3.b)
demonstrating that the ENF pattern in both signals is
very similar. In spite of the fact that both signals
match the frequency values of each other, the same
does not seem to occur with time. As a matter of fact,
taking into account the circumstance that the
homemade ENF recording was started at 12 o'clock,
it seems that there is a huge difference of 6 minutes
and 50 seconds between both spectrograms. In the
Figure 1. Schematic illustration of the magnetic field event that they were recorded at the same time, it
test by the circumference of 8 positions. would seem unlikely for both of them having a
different time value for a specific frequency.
The second test was done by plugging the laptop
into a power socket and moving the microphone

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a)

b)

Figure 3. Comparison of a live database of the Rolling System Frequency from the UK power grid and a homemade
ENF recording. a) Graph of the Rolling System Frequency over Time, obtained from the BM Reports at the end of
March 14 (BM Reports 2018). b) Spectrogram of homemade ENF signals recorded on the 14th of March 2018 from
12h00 to 00h00.

3.1.1 Audio file 1 – Nottingham city centre

a)

b)

c)

Figure 4. Comparison of an audio sample recorded in the Nottingham city centre (c) and a reference ENF recording
created in the same area. a) Spectrogram of the reference ENF signal recorded on the 28th of February 2018 from 17h30
to 18h31. b) Spectrogram of the reference ENF signal highlighted in figure 4.a. Red arrows indicate characteristic
points of the spectrograms.

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Comparing figures 4.b and 4.c with the help of
the red arrows it is possible to observe a similarity
between both spectrograms seeing that each one of
them has the same characteristic points. The
reference ENF file (figure 4.b) was recorded from
17h30 to 18h31 and according to the figures, the
matching of the characteristic points happened
between around the fifth and thirtieth minutes of the
database. As a result, this means that technically the
assessed audio recording (figure 4.c) was started at
17h35 and ended at 18h00, approximately. In
addition, it is also possible to notice in the last
spectrogram a stronger ENF signal compared to the
reference as it seems to be darker.
vicinity of the respective ENF database, the current
audio sample present in figure 5.c, even more distant
from the ENF reference, showed that it had the same
unique points as the database (figure 5.b),
emphasized by the red arrows. The ENF database
(figure 5.b) was recorded from 20h00 to 22h15 and
as indicated by the matching of the unique points in
the spectrograms, the audio sample (figure 5.c) it
seems to have taken place between around the 36th
and 57th minutes of the ENF reference. As a
consequence, this suggests that the audio sample
being analysed (figure 5.c) was started at 20h36
approximately with a duration of 20 minutes and 30
seconds.

3.1.2 Audio File 2 – Clifton, Nottingham

As in the previous audio file where it was

recorded in the Nottingham city centre and in the

a)

b)

c)

Figure 5. Comparison of an audio sample recorded in Clifton, Nottingham (c) and an ENF database created in
Nottingham city centre. a) Spectrogram of the reference ENF signal recorded on the 10th of March 2018 from 20h00 to
22h15. b) Spectrogram of the ENF database signal highlighted in figure 5.a. Red arrows indicate characteristic points
of the spectrograms.

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3.1.3 Audio file 3 – Lisbon, Portugal

a)

b)

Figure 6. Spectrograms of signals recorded at the same time in two different locations in Europe. a) Spectrogram of
ENF signal recorded in Nottingham, UK. b) Spectrogram of ENF signal recorded in Lisbon, Portugal.

These audio files were recorded more than 1500 3.2 Tampering of audio files
km away from each other. The spectrogram of the
The original file presented here have been already
signal recorded in Nottingham was created at 19h00
assessed previously in this study, being the one
on the 21st of February. It is also known that the
whose record was made in Lisbon. The files given in
record made in Lisbon was initiated at 21h41 on the
figure 7 were created under the exact same
same day. Both audio files were paired according to
conditions. Yet, both are not totally equal since from
the time of the Lisbon’s file recording. Although both
the second one (figure 7.b) was removed a continuous
were paired to the same time of recording it can be
sentenced composed of three words whose duration
seen by figures 6.a and 6.b that their characteristic
was no more than 1 second. As seen in the figures it
points did not match with each other. As a matter of
is possible to note a different pattern (highlighted by
fact, not a single position in one spectrogram was
the red circles) around the 13th minute between both
similar to the other one and so on so on.
spectrograms being unfamiliar to the original file.

a)

b)

Figure 7. Comparison of an original (a) and altered (b) audio file. The red circle in both spectrograms shows the
difference made by one modification.

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a)

b)

Figure 8. Comparison of a modified signal (a) and the respective reference ENF file. b) Spectrogram of the reference
ENF signal recorded on the 1st of March 2018 from 13h00 to 17h00. Red arrows show the unique points in both
spectrograms, whereas the blue indicates which section of the original audio recording has been deleted from the upper
(figure 8.a) one.

Examining the figures presented above it is 3.3 Test of the magnetic field
possible to observe that both files are somehow
In order to test how the magnetic field in space
identical. The figure 8.a shows a modified signal with
could interact with the ENF signal captured by the
a duration of 34 minutes. In this spectrogram can be
microphone, connected to a laptop plugged into a
seen a huge discontinuity of the ENF signal at the
wall socket, figure 9 was obtained from the
20th minute of the file, allowing the frequency value
circumference magnetic field experiment according
moving from 50.15 to 50 Hz in a very drastic way. In
to the method shown in figure 1.
spite of the fact that the audio file was altered, the red
arrows demonstrate that there are still some unique Analysing the spectrogram below, it is possible
points in common with both spectrograms. to notice that at the first position a very weaken
signal, almost undetectable by the naked eye, was
The reference ENF file was recorded in
picked by the microphone. At the remaining
Nottingham from 13h00 and the blue arrow shows
positions, it should be perceived that the second, third
which section of the original file has been deleted
and eighth points detected a stronger ENF signal
from the modified one. As a matter of fact, the figure
compared to the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh
8.b demonstrates that was removed a portion of 4
positions.
minutes approximately from the original file.

Figure 9. Spectrogram of an ENF signal recorded according to the circumference magnetic field experiment (as
exemplified in figure 1)

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Figure 10. Comparison of spectrograms of ENF signals recorded in a laptop plugged into the wall socket (a) and a
laptop not plugged (b) following the same method of figure 2
When analysing the ENF signals in the figure
10.a it is possible to verify that at the third position,
when the microphone was very close to the charger, the
ENF component is almost invisible to the naked eye.
Following the same aim of the experiment in the
previous figure, the magnetic field was now tested in a
laptop operated only on batteries, meaning that it was
not plugged into the wall socket, and in a laptop
connected to the electrical current,
The result of this test can be seen in figure 10.
This 21 minutes files were recorded in four random
positions, as figure 2 suggests it, and with each position
being held by approximately 5 minutes. When looking
for ENF signals on figure 10.b, in spite of the fact that
in the first two and last points there was not any capture
of it, in the third position, however, there was a
detection of an ENF signal. It is important to draw to
attention that unlike the first, second and fourth points,
in the third one the microphone was very close to the
power socket.
3. Discussion
Unfortunately, it was not possible to assess
recordings from outside of the Nottingham area.
However, the same results should be expected if the
testing recordings were made within the United
Kingdom region, meaning that they would have the
same ENF interference as the UK power grid.
It was not possible to find an electrical frequency
database of the UK open to the general public.
Therefore, the author of this study had the need to
create ENF files which were taken as reference when
analysing the audio samples present in this study.
Despite the fact of not existing an open national
a)
b)
database, a real-time demand data over the last 60
minutes of the UK “Rolling System Frequency” was
obtained (figure 3.a) and compared against an audio
file recorded at the same time as the previous one. This
would allow the authentication of that file being then
able to be put as a reference to the upcoming testing
audio recordings. Although, as seen in figure 3, the
values of the x-axis are not equal to both spectrograms
as there is a difference of almost 7 minutes between the
frequency unique points of them. This might have
happened because apart from the real-time demand
data being probably early from the GMT, the program
where the testing record was created (Audacity) might
have an experimental error associated which could
have delayed the time of the recording. Nevertheless,
due to the lack of options and the fact that the frequency
signal was similar in both files, the testing file was
considered validated for the upcoming tests.
The testing files were created in the city centre of
Nottingham, Clifton and Lisbon. All of them were
compared against a reference ENF file recorded in the
Nottingham city centre. The spectrograms collected
from these recordings were compared and analysed
using the naked eye, providing enough and accurate
information to authenticate an audio file. The results
obtained in figures 4 and 5 showed a high degree of
correlation and the overall shapes of the spectrograms
were very identical. Regarding the testing file in figure
4, it was ascertained that the exact time of its recording
was the 28th of February 2018 from 17h35 to 18h00,
according to its respective ENF database (figure 4.a, b).
Moving 6 km away from the reference ENF file to
Clifton (figure 5), it was verified that the file recorded
at this place was started at 20h36 and ended at 20h57
approximately, on the 10th of March 2018. Such
accurate deduction of the Nottingham city centre and
Clifton files was only possible by comparing the
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figures with the help of the red arrows, which easily
allowed to observe the similarity between the testing
and reference spectrograms because each one of them
had the same characteristic points. Moving further
away to Lisbon, Portugal, this third audio file (figure 6)
was recorded more than 1500 km away from the ENF
database. Because of the fact that this study was held
down under controlled factors, such as the fact that all
testing audio files were always recorded within the time
limits of its ENF reference file, this means that the time
of the Lisbon’s file was already known. Knowing that
both files in figure 6 were recorded at the same time, it
should be expected both having the same characteristic
points. Although, due to the fact of the long distance
the unique points on both spectrograms did not match
with each other. The result of this experiment did not
meet the expectations created after reading the study of
Grigoras (2007) who spectrographically compared
temporally co-extensive samples from Italy,
Netherlands, Romania and Spain and whose ENF
signals were found to be very similar. Even though the
more distant cities of that study are more than 2000 km
away and were able to have the same ENF signal, this
could only mean that both countries are connected to
the same electrical grid. On contrary and according to
the European Network of Transmission System
Operators for Electricity (2008), the grid of Great
Britain is not synchronized with the grid of Continental
Europe which supplies 24 countries, most of the
European Union. This explains why the ENF unique
points from the UK are not the same for Portuguese
ENF signals for a given time window. Imagining a
scenario where the file in figure 6.b was being
presented in a United Kingdom’s court and a suspect
who recorded it claiming that the file was recorded at a
specific time, there would be three reasonable
explanations for the ENF analysis outcomes. Seeing
that both files do not match, the first statement would
be that the suspect was wrong and that the recording
was created at a different time than the one claimed by
the suspect. Secondly, if the questioned audio did not
match the electrical frequency of UK’s network for a
particular time, this could also mean, however, that the
same questioned file could match the electrical
frequency of other countries’ power grid. Finally, the
file could also have been so severely modified that its
unique points did not coincide with ones from the ENF
reference one. In any of the situations presented, the
resume of this court conclusion is that the suspect was
either lying about the originality of the file, the location
and time of recording, or even a selection of all
previously mentioned.
It is known that in the time-frequency portrayal
of ENF signals the tampering incursion will generate a
discontinuity, which can be investigated for detection
of modification in audio recordings. Tampering of
original audio files, as seen in the example given above,
is a very common tool used by criminals. Therefore,
this study investigated the expression of the ENF
signals in modified audio files. The assessed audio files
were modified either with small or long deletions.
The first file was modified from the audio
recorded in Lisbon (figure 6.b) with a small deletion
composed of three words whose duration was no more
than 1 second. A small abnormality was spotted around
the 13th minute (figure 7.b) with a deviation from the
original pattern (figure 7.a). This suggests that the
tampering of this audio file was made at the 13th minute
of the recording with a deletion of a small voice
sentence.
In the second figure (fig. 8) of this section, can be
seen a huge discontinuity of the ENF signal at the 20 th
minute of the modified file. As a result, the frequency
value moves drastically from 50.15 Hz in disruption to
50 Hz. However, such modification did not change the
full integrity of the ENF signal, being still possible to
visualize unique points in common with both
spectrograms. It was still possible to determine the
exact time at which the recording was started from the
ENF database (figure 8.b). The results show that this
file was started at around 14h15 on the 1st of March
2018 and a deletion of a portion of 4 minutes from the
original file was made, meaning that the original file
length was 38 minutes long.
From a forensic point of view and knowing
whether the file was modified, this observation might
offer two possibilities for the audio file on figure 8.a.
Firstly, this would probably suggest that the file might
have been recorded discontinuously, in other words,
this would mean that when a file was being recorded,
at some point of the recording the same might have
been paused, but not stopped, and resumed 4 minutes
later until the end of the file. Secondly and finally,
another reason for the deletion of this 4-minute portion
is the tampering of the audio file after recording as done
in the present study.
Finally, in order to test how the magnetic field in
space could interact with the ENF signals captured by
a microphone (connected to a laptop plugged into a
wall socket) several tests were performed playing with
the positions of the microphone and laptop as well as
plugging it or not to the power socket. The results can
be seen in figures 9 and 10. Both figures clearly suggest
that the ENF signals detection is supported by a
connection to an electric current as this will create a
magnetic field around the wire and everything
connected to the laptop. However, when not connected,
the microphone can still pick some ENF fluctuations if
very close to the power socket as seen at the third
position of the respective method (figure 10.b). On
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figure 9 can be visualized that when moving the
microphone further from the power socket the signals
weakens as evidenced by the positions from four to
seven. In fact, the most interesting results were seen
when the microphone was very close to the laptop
charger. This event might suggest that this transformer
cancels the magnetic field around itself, weakening the
signals of ENF captured. Therefore, we can recognize
that the magnetic field has a big roll on the capture of
ENF signals. In fact, if it were not for the existence of
the magnetic fields those signals studied in this paper
could not have been detected.
Even if the ENF criterion seems to be an excellent
technique to validate and authenticate audio files, there
are still some limitations related to authentication and
enhancement that examiners and others should be
aware of. First, in order to employ this technique in an
audio file there should have the ENF component,
otherwise, it is impossible to authenticate that file with
the method presented in this study. During the
investigation it was not easy to get the sample files as
most of the time there were not ENF signals among
them. Most of these files were recorded with
microphones plugged into laptops connected to the
power socket. Chargers which might cancel the
magnetic field are a huge problem for the extraction of
ENF signals as well as the position of the microphone
in the space which seemed to play a huge role in
capturing these signals. So, if a file is recorded by a
built-in microphone of a laptop the position of it in the
laptop might also determine whether the ENF signal is
picked. For instance, during the current study, it was
not possible to pick any signal from a built-in
microphone located in the monitor of a laptop, whereas
if the same was located at the bottom surface it would
offer a better chance of detecting ENF signals.
Secondly, regarding noise and interference issues,
packets of data transmitted by mobile devices in short
bursts can induce electromagnetically some
interference into audio equipment, such as multiple
harmonics of very high amplitude that could difficult
the ENF extraction (Grigoras 2012). Thirdly, because
of the non-repeatability of the track of the ENF signal,
this technique can only be efficiently applied in
recordings sufficiently long (more than 10 minutes)
since that is when it starts to have a sufficient accuracy
to evaluate whether there is a match between both
reference and testing files (Kajstura, Trawinska and
Hebenstreit 2005). Finally, according to Hua, Bi and
Thing (2017), even if a recording is created in an
environment without ENF, it is also possible for this
file having some false positive decisions such as a
signal lying in the frequency band of ENF dynamics.
In contrast to the limitations, a solution for audio
recordings lacking an ENF signature could be the
capture in the indoor lighting of ENF fluctuations using
video cameras and optical sensors. It has been
demonstrated that, for instance, in an indoor video
surveillance recordings there is a presence of ENF
signals which were also shown to have a high
correlation with the ones collected straightforwardly
from the power main supplies (Garg et al. 2013).
In this study, only the spectrogram method was
implemented to analyse the ENF signals as it is easy to
use, fast to put into action and quickly reveals the ENF
components being especially useful when placing the
ENF signals from the testing and reference data side by
side for a direct comparison. However, it is known that
there are two more methods to extract ENF signals.
They are reported as a frequency-domain method and
time-domain method. The first consists of computing
FFT over short time windows, extracting the highest
value of magnitude around the 50 Hz frequency. The
second is the deepest method of ENF analysis and
extraction. The time-domain method uses zero-crosses
measurement which consists of an estimation of time
differences between consecutive zero values, allowing
results with the best resolution possible as they can
show micro-variations of the ENF signal (Grigoras
2007). Therefore, for a more professional and accurate
analysis of the ENF criterion, it is advisable to perform
it using the three methods mentioned before so that
there are a greater certainty and accuracy in regard to
the final outcome.
In conclusion, the proposed technique for digital
audio authentication based on the fluctuation of the
ENF was satisfactory for the ascertainment of the exact
time of recordings and whether they were modified. It
was also possible to conclude that the grid of Great
Britain is not synchronized with the grid of Continental
Europe. This technique provided visual information
that allowed to observe the fluctuations to locate the
points at which the signal was modified and to infer the
nature of manipulation. Also, this study proved the
importance of the magnetic field in the detection of
ENF signals.
To improve the performance and reliability of
audio authentication, the author would suggest future
research in this field, the use of the three methods
together to extract the ENF signals, the use of those
signals captured by video cameras and optical sensors
as well as the employment of solutions non-ENF based,
such as acoustic signature, features applied to machine
learning techniques, investigating compression offsets,
etc. The author would also underline the requirement
for innovative work going for enhanced ENF
examination with shorter frame sizes.
This will allow a forensic audio examiner to
determine the authenticity of content and originality of
the audio records so that these can be accepted as a
strong evidence in legal procedures.
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Acknowledgement
The author would like to thank André Lopes,
Jirka Jireš, Johnson Rutta Sonjay, Maria Beatriz Costa,
Ryan Ball and Tiago Valério for their help in collecting
the audio recordings for the present study.
The author would also like to thank his supervisor
Dr Nicolas Sawyer for the help and support during the
study. This manuscript could not have been completed
without their help.
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