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Speaker identification should not be confused with speaker verification.  The second of these two processes (verification) results when a known and cooperative person wishes to be recognized by means of an analysis of a sample of his or her speech.  In this case, exemplars already have been made available and "reference sets" have been developed for the talker.  Speaker verification techniques are most useful to industry, government and the military; they are only occasionally of use to law enforcement agencies.  Moreover, since speaker identification is, by far, the more difficult task of the two; any technique that will work for identification purposes should work even better for verification.  In any case, speaker identification is where attempts are made to identify an individual from his or her speech when he/she is unknown and when anyone within a relatively open-ended population could have been the talker.  Considerable research has been carried out on this issue; it has focused on three areas: 1) aural/perceptual approaches, 2) "voiceprints" and 3) machine-computer approaches.  Only the first and third of these will be reviewed as "voiceprints" have been shown to be inadequate to the task (and in the extreme) and have been pretty much discarded (even in the United States).  Hence, it would not appear useful to outline an invalid technique in this very short review.
At least primitive efforts in voice recognition probably antedate recorded history; they have continued down through the millennia.  But, what is happening these days?  Well, courtroom testimony is common but most of it is by some type of listener.  Some Courts permit a witness to testify (about the identity of a speaker) only if able to satisfy the jurist that they "really know" that person, Many Courts permit qualified specialists to render opinions.  Here, a sample of the unknown talker's speech (usually an evidence tape) must be available, as must an exemplar tape recording of the suspect.  The professional carries out an examination and then decides if the two tapes contain, or do not contain, the voice of a single person.  Finally, a third type, here, involves earwitness lineups or "voice parades." They will be considered first.