About Optimal Communication

Expert Speech & Language Consulting

HISTORY

Optimal Communication LLC is a specialized communication consulting company. Optimal Communication was founded in Vernon, Connecticut, in 1995 and has been based in Salt Lake City, Utah since 1999. Optimal Communication LLC represents a consortium of consultants with expertise in speech and language analyses.

EXAMPLES OF SERVICES

- forensic speech and voice analysis
- voice identification / comparison
- certified and/or verified transcripts
- audio recording quality enhancement
- clinical speech and language evaluation for independent legal assessment of function and capabilities (following traumatic brain injury, stroke, etc)
- speech and language consulting for various comapnies (e.g., pharmaceutical companies and investment organizations)
- expert witness services in the above areas.

Previous forensic voice analysis conducted by the Optimal Communication Team has included working on forensic cases for law enforcement agencies, lawyers, private individuals, and various companies and corporations.

Recent clients have included Union Pacific Railroad, UPS, The Nation Publishing Company in St. Michael, Barbados, the US Justice Department, Indevus Pharmaceuticals (Lexington, MA), Gerson-Lehrman Group (Chicago, IL), and the Clincal Advisors Group (New York, NY).

THE OPTIMAL TEAM

Michael Blomgren, Ph.D., President

Dr. Blomgren is an associate professor of communication sciences and disorders at The University of Utah. He has a B.Sc. degree in psychology and linguistics from The University of Victoria, a M.S. degree in speech pathology from the University of Hawaii, and a Ph.D. in communication science from the University of Connecticut. Dr. Blomgren is a licensed and certified speech and language pathologist. He has previously worked as a speech-language pathologist in the Hawaii public schools, with the Ministry of Health in British Columbia, Canada, with New England Rehabilitation Hospital (Portland, Maine), and Hartford Hospital (Hartford, Connecticut). His teaching and research at The University of Utah pertain to normal and disordered speech production. He has over 30 publications including scientific papers, book chapters, a book, and over 60 scientific presentations at national and international conferences. He has broad experience with forensic voice analyses and is a member of International Association for Forensic Phonetics and Acoustics (IAFPA). Click Here for More Info on Dr. Blomgren

Alexander Goberman, Ph.D., Consultant

Dr. Goberman is an associate professor in the Dept. of Communication Disorders at Bowling Green State University. He has B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in communication science from the University of Connecticut. Dr. Goberman is a licensed and certified speech-language pathologist and is an expert in acoustic analyses of speech. Click Here for More Info on Dr. Goberman

For further information or to request a specific quote, please contact us at:

Optimal Communication, LLC
1123 East 600 South
Salt Lake City, Utah 84102

801-585-6152

mblomgren@aol.com

Optimal Communication, LLC adheres to the "Code of Practice" of the International Association for Forensic Phonetics and Acoustics (IAFPA). The Code is outlined below.

This IAFPA Code of Practice was approved in Helsinki, 2004.

- Members should act in all circumstances with integrity, fairness and impartiality.
- Recognising the varied array of casework subsumed under the interests of IAFPA (eg speaker identification/elimination, speaker profiling, voice line-ups, transcription, authentication, signal enhancement, sound propagation at crime scenes), Members should maintain awareness of the limits of their knowledge and competencies when agreeing to carry out work.
- Members should not enter into any arrangements in which remuneration is dependent on the outcome of the case.
- Members should make clear, both in their reports and in giving evidence in court, the limitations of forensic phonetic and acoustic analysis.
- In reporting on cases where an opinion or conclusion is required, Members should make clear their level of certainty and give an indication of where their conclusion lies in relation to the range of judgements they are prepared to give.
(a) Members should exercise particular caution if carrying out forensic analysis of any kind on recordings containing speech in languages of which they are not native speakers.
(b) In carrying out forensic speaker identification/elimination work, Members should exercise particular caution if the samples for comparison are in different languages.
(c) Members should exercise particular caution if carrying out authenticity or integrity examinations of recordings that are not claimed to be original.
- Members undertaking forensic phonetic and acoustic analyses or operations of all kinds should state in their reports the methods they have followed and provide details of the equipment and computer programs used.
- Members, in making their analysis, should take due account of the methods available at the time and of their appropriateness to the samples under examination.
- Members should not attempt to do psychological profiles or assessments of the sincerity of speakers.
- Members' reports should not include or exclude any material which has been suggested by others (in particular by those instructing them) unless that Member has formed an independent view.