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Voice Analysis – The Truth about the "Truth Machine"
By Amir Liberman, CEO of Nemesysco Ltd.
Introduction
Voice-Analysis technology has
become increasingly popular in the last few years as an effective
method of both distinguishing truth from lies and assessing
general credibility.
For the first time in our
history, the veracity and reliability of statements, from criminal
suspects, insurance claimants and job applicants, amongst
others, can be quickly and easily verified.
So how does Voice-Analysis work and why do different researchers worldwide sometimes get conflicting results?
Brain
Activity
The term Voice-Analysis is
slightly misleading. Although
a Voice-Analysis expert uses the subject's voice for his procedure,
he is really trying to analyze brain activity, which is reflected in
the speech flow.
As the vocal mechanism is
extremely complex, the brain monitors it very closely.
Changes in thought will be
reflected in the voice as a slight and localized changes in vocal
pattern.
When we are excited, our
speech becomes faster. When
we think hard, or have a logical conflict, our speech slows down.
(Simply because we need time to think).
State of the art
Voice-Analysis technology (L.V.A. to name one) detects and monitors
a very wide spectrum of 'Brain
Activity States'. These
include excitement, cognitive activity, stress, concentration,
confusion, attention, anticipation and in some cases even more
complex emotional structures like love.
The
Role of Feelings in the Identification of Falsehoods.
Lying is not a feeling but a
result of a logical/emotional process.
The 'Lying emotional structure' will differ depending on the
logical or emotional process that caused us to lie in the first
place.
Voice analysis deals with
detecting the emotional changes occurring with the intention to
deceive, and not with the "Logical" action of lying.
Why
Lie?
Most actions and events have
a fairly predictable outcome. For
example, If a criminal
admits a crime he will be punished and may even be sent to prison, a negative situation most would seek to avoid.
A confidence trickster will
construct a whole story of deceit in order to profit from someone
else, an outcome which will be seen by him/her as very positive one.
As these expected outcomes
have created totally different emotional structures, they will be
reflected in a different Voice Analysis results.
The recognition of this fact
is crucial to those wishing to embrace Voice Analysis technology.
Lies,
Lies and more Lies
The L.V.A (Layer Voice
Analysis) differentiate between 5 basic types of lies that produce completely
different patterns in the voice:
The Defensive lie
(self-preservation)
The Offensive lie (self-gain)
The White lie (to avoid
hurting someone else's feelings)
The Embarrassment lie (to
avoid emotional discomfort)
The Joke. (harmless deceit to
create humor. No real
intention to deceive – as such the Voice Analysis results may show
excitement, stress, confusion or in some cases no special analysis
at all .)
The
Conversation Type
To ensure total accuracy the
conversation type has to be taken into account too.
A free conversation, that
might lead to anywhere and its structure is unknown, should be
analyzed differently from a conversation where the subject knows in
advance that he is going to lie.
To understand why, please try
to imagine yourself in the following experiment:
You will be presented with a
series of pictures (of unknown nature) and then asked to verbally
describe them. Can you
please imagine how you would feel before the test?
Now please imagine you are
told that one of these pictures is so horrible you won't be able to
sleep at night. Before
you have even seen the first picture, did you notice the change in
your emotional state?
Polygraph
and Voice Analysis Methods
A "polygraph"
measures physical changes brought on by the perception of threat
(Also Known as the 'Fight Or Flight' Response) in which the body
prepares either to fight or run from the threat,
whereas voice analysis traces the associated brain activity.
Our body's react to threat,
excitement, conflict or even pleasure in the same way - preparing
for action. This general reaction makes polygraph a perfect tool for
some serious applications as well as games, however, it has a big
disadvantage in real life use as it cannot clarify the situation
beyond a yes/no response to a specific question, assuming the
question is not associated with any other unrelated emotion.
Voice
Analysis Real-time Flexibility
Polygraphs can only function
with an already prepared questionnaire of yes/no answers and based
on facts available to the polygraph examiner at that time. As such,
it doesn't possess the flexibility required to clarify anomalies
during the test.
State of
the art Voice Analysis technology does.
Intended mainly for real-time
conversation, the online Voice Analysis investigative technique
enables immediate focus on the suspected portions of the
conversation. Thus
leaving no time for the suspected party to prepare answers to this
new line of probing questions.
The emotional readings enable
a skilled operator to direct their questions at the core of the
problem achieving a solution rather than just indicating a
'problem'.
Different
targets, different tools
As Voice Analysis technology
was designed to be much more flexible than the basic polygraph, the
voice analysis requires a high level of skill and a total
understanding of the science of Voice Analysis technology. For
example, analysis of Polygraph tests recordings is doable, but must
take into account the type of test, the overall emotional structure
of the situation and the way the questions were administered. The
examination of 'mock'
crimes in polygraph setting is even more complex.
These simulations of crimes
(some better prepared than others) involve a scenario where,
regardless of outcome, the subject receives neither punishment nor
reward. Since these
known outcomes have no effect on the subject's real life, they may
produce a variety of emotional responses in relation to the test
itself.
Here are the different
"emotional states" subjects can experience when lying in a
'mock' case:
Question:
"Did you plant the bomb?"
- Response:
"No."
Subject's thoughts
Polygraph
reading:
Voice analysis:
'I'm lying!'
High Reaction
False
'Will it catch me!'
High Reaction
Excitement
'Is this where I need to
lie?'
High Reaction
Uncertainty
'I wonder what it will say?'
High Reaction
High Anticipation
'I wish this was over with' No reaction No Reaction
The following are the same,
but for a genuine case:
Question:
"Did you plant the bomb?"
- Response:
"No."
Subject's thoughts:
Polygraph
reading:
Voice analysis:
"I'm lying!"
High Reaction
Conflict + stress = False
"I don't want to go to
prison!"
High Reaction
Excitement + Stress = False
"Please make it say I'm
good…"
High Reaction
Anticipation +Stress = False
"He must believe
me!"
High Reaction
High Tension = False
"I don't really want to
answer…"
Medium reaction
High SOS + Conflict = False
"I have nothing to lose…" No reaction - Truth No Reaction - Truth
* Please note that stress
alone is not indicative of falsehood when utilizing the LVA Voice
Analysis techniques.
Effective
when the Truth is not Black or White
Not long ago, a former US
President was recorded as saying, "I did not have sexual
relations with that woman."
Now, that we assume everything is known for a fact… was he
lying?
Using "Nemesysco's"
L.V.A Voice Analysis technology, we were first to report that the
President was telling the truth according to the law and therefore
is not lying, but he did participate in a certain type of sexual
liason which he felt very bad about. (Guilt-Knowledge). (Published
on TIME EUROPE, MARCH 13, 2000 VOL. 155 NO. 10 - "How To Spot A
Liar")
The
Bottom Line
Voice Analysis presents
incredible new opportunities for those seeking for truth, the whole
truth and nothing but the truth- but together with these remarkable
capabilities comes a great responsibility:
The need
for a much better understanding of the human 'Biological Machine'.
The author is the inventor of the LVA voice analysis technology and the C.E.O. of Nemesysco Ltd.
Nemesysco Ltd. © 2000-2003 All Rights reserved.