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One falsehood you hear from many critics of the acoustical evidence is that determining the origin and timing of gunfire from acoustical recordings was a new and untested science in 1978. In point of fact, one of the reasons the Acoustical Society of America recommended BBN to the HSCA was that BBN acoustical scientists had real-world experience in determining the origin and timing of gunfire from a sound recording in the 1970 Kent State shooting incident.
Dr. James Barger, BBN's chief acoustical scientist, was one of the BBN scientists involved with analyzing the audio recording of the Kent State shooting at the request of the prosecution. Dr. Barger and his team used a combination of waveform physics, sound-speed calculations, vector triangulation, and an onsite reenactment to identify the location and timing of the numerous shots that were fired. They identified the shock waves and muzzle blasts of the rifle fire. By measuring the precise time-delay intervals between the arrival of the shock waves and the arrival of the muzzle blasts, the BBN scientists were able to mathematically calculate which National Guardsmen were the first to fire shots.
The BBN team isolated each individual pair of sound impulses (shock plus blast) and plotted them chronologically to determine the exact tempo of the shooting, showing that the gunfire lasted for approximately 13 seconds. This allowed the BBN experts to determine that the shots were not fired in a single, simultaneous blast, but rather in a rapid, overlapping sequence. And, using vector triangulation and sound-speed calculations derived from the shock wave-muzzle blast intervals, Dr. Barger and his team were able to determine the gunfire's distance from the microphone and to establish that the gunfire came primarily from the crest of Blanket Hill, where the National Guardsman were positioned.
Does any of this sound familiar?
BTW, the BBN team's acoustical analysis in the Kent State case was so solid and impressive that it was not only admitted as evidence in the trial but was stipulated by the defense to be correct (5 HSCA 645). As most here know, defense lawyers don't like to stipulate to the correctness of damaging scientific evidence unless the evidence is beyond dispute.
Finally, I should point out that, not surprisingly, by 1978 Dr. Barger had already established himself as a recognized expert in applied acoustics, sound scattering, and sound reverberation, and had been a research fellow at Harvard University's Acoustics Research Laboratory before being hired by BBN. Before working at Harvard, he worked as a sonar scientist in the U.S. Navy's Underwater Sound Laboratory. By 1978, he had also had numerous papers published on acoustical science. After the HSCA investigation, Dr. Barger continued to have papers and articles published on acoustical science, including the following:
"Boomerang Mobile Counter Shooter Detection System" (2005, Proceedings of The International Society for Optical Engineering)
"Systems and Methods for Determining Shooter Locations with Weak Muzzle Detection" (2007, which earned a U.S. patent for BBN [by then Raytheon BBN]). "This technology of muzzle detection and system, applied in direction finders, acoustic wave reradiation, instruments, etc., solved the problems of inability to determine the range (distance) of the shooter, inaccurate derived distance information, and inability to determine the distance between the sensor(s) and the origin of the shockwave, so as to improve the disambiguation of the shooter's trajectory solution."
"System and Method for Identifying a Muzzle Blast Using a Multi-sensor Total Energy Approach" (2008, which earned a U.S. patent Raytheon BBN)
"System and Methods for Detecting Shooter Locations from an Aircraft" (2013, which earned a U.S. patent for Raytheon BBN)