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Glossary Forensics

Electric network frequency (ENF)

The electric network frequency is the tiny, constantly changing variation around 50 or 60 Hz in the mains supply, which leaves a hum in many recordings.

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In more detail

Because the variation follows a pattern that is the same across a grid at any moment, comparing a recording's hum to reference logs can help date it or reveal cuts and insertions. Europe's mains is 50 Hz and North America's 60 Hz.

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Audio Forensics

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See also

  • Glossary Spectrogram
    A spectrogram is a picture of sound that plots time across, frequency up and the strength of each frequency as colour.
  • Glossary Hertz (Hz)
    A hertz is one cycle per second, the unit of frequency; for sound it sets the pitch.
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