Hot off the press in Journal of Forensic Sciences (hat tip Mind Hacks), a study in which a Layered Voice Analysis system was tested independently and found to be effective at the chance level. In other words, you might as well flip a coin.
Here’s the abstract:
This study was designed to evaluate commonly used voice stress [...]
Controversy and debate is the driver of scientific progress. It forces us to re-examine our assumptions, scrutinise our methods and think hard about the meaning of data. Of course, there is another way of dealing with controversy…
Voodoo science in fMRI
If you’re involved or simply interested in fMRI research you’ll already be well aware of the [...]
The latest issue of the National Institute of Justice journal (NIJ Journal No. 259, March 2008) features a great article by Kelly Damphousse summarising recent research on voice stress analysis (VSA). Here’s an extract:
According to a recent study funded by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), two of the most popular VSA programs in [...]
Another TV expose of the use of Computer Voice Stress Analyzers in the USA, this time from Colorado’s 9 News (1 November):
A device used by Colorado law enforcement agencies to identify when someone is lying, may not work and may be costing taxpayers money. Computer Voice Stress Analyzers (CVSAs) claim to measure changes in a [...]
Detailed commentary from Patrick Barkham in the Guardian (18 Sept), exploring the use of ‘lie detecting’ machines in the UK. He covers the use of voice stress analysis in benefit offices and insurance companies, and polygraphy for sex offenders. Interesting stuff, and well worth reading in full over on the Guardian site. [...]
The media is reporting that a pilot scheme in the UK to use voice stress analysis (or, more accurately, “voice risk analysis”) on benefit applicants is a success. The Observer headline proclaims Technology set to be introduced nationwide after pilot saves £110,000 (2 September):
Benefit claimants and job seekers could be forced to take [...]
Hat tip to the Anti-Polygraph Blog for alerting us to a new study to test the efficacy of Voice Stress Analysis. From the study’s abstract:
…The goal of this study was to test the validity and reliability of two popular VSA programs (LVA and CVSA) in a “real world” setting. Questions about recent drug use [...]
Some quick deception-related links from around the blogosphere:
PsyBlog presents the “Top 3 Myths, Top 5 Proven Factors” on lie detection (12 May).
Wired (10 May) picks up on the UK government trial of voice stress analysis for alleged benefit cheats.
The Psychjourney Podcast for 27 April is on Malingering and PTSD (mp3).
If podcasts are your thing you [...]
The Trades Union Congress has called for the Department for Work and Pensions to abandon plans to use voice stress analysis in benefit centres (press release, 4 May). Quite right too. They say:
The Government should abandon plans to trial lie detector tests for people claiming benefits because the accuracy of the technology has [...]
Oh please.
Here’s a great way to start your day: in the BBC headlines this morning (5 April), news that voice stress analysis will be used in job centres to test benefit claimants:
Lie detectors will be used to help root out benefit cheats, Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton has said. So-called “voice-risk analysis software” will [...]
If you missed this last year, the ABC exposé of a company offering voice stress analysis technology is currently available on YouTube. As I wrote last April
The report featured a great interview with “Dr” Charles Humble, millionaire CEO of the National Institute for Truth Verification, the company that markets the tremendously successful Computer Voice [...]
According to the BBC (14 December):
Callers using internet phone system Skype who might be tempted to tell a few porkies should beware – the user on the other end may have a lie detector. Skype is to offer the KishKish Lie Detector, which is made by BATM, as an add-on for customers.
It analyses audio streams [...]
The most recent issue of the free online Journal of Credibility Assessment and Witness Psychology (vol. 7, No. 2, published June 2006) is a special issue, containing the Proceedings of the Workshop on the Use of Autonomic and Somatic Measures for Security Evaluations. The entire issue can be downloaded as a (very large!) PDF file, [...]
Another valiant attempt to persuade law enforcement not to buy into the Voice Stress Analysis snake oil: Warren J Sonne on Officer.Com (13 June) examines the utility of machines that claim to be able to detect lying through tremors in the voice, touching on three key issues:
1) The reasons why VSA is so apparently attractive [...]
ABC Primetime last Thursday (30 Mar) screened a special report on false confessions and police interview tactics. The report featured a great interview with “Dr” Charles Humble, millionaire CEO of the National Institute for Truth Verification, the company that markets the tremendously successful Computer Voice Stress Analyzer. Humble claims that the system has a [...]
Controversial device analyzes passengers’ voices
CNN, Thursday, January 5, 2006
Heightened fears of terrorist attacks have lead to a global beefing up of airport security, but controversial new measures are being developed that could see plane passengers screened by lie detectors. Features like iris and fingerprint scanning are now widely used by airlines, but with technology playing [...]
The Arizona Republic Oct. 10, 2005
At least 20 Arizona law enforcement agencies are relying on a voice-measuring lie detector for criminal investigations even though experts say the device does not stand up to scientific scrutiny and may prompt innocent suspects to make false confessions. The Computer Voice Stress Analyzer, or CVSA, purportedly measures FM radio [...]
Matthias Gamer, Hans-Georg Rill, Gerhard Vossel, and Heinz Werner Godert
International Journal of Psychophysiology, article in press, available online July 2005
The Guilty Knowledge Test (GKT) and its variant, the Guilty Actions Test (GAT), are both psychophysiological questioning techniques aiming to detect guilty knowledge of suspects or witnesses in criminal and forensic cases. Using a GAT, this [...]
The Post-Dispatch, 05/14/2005
The urban legend goes like this: Police wire the gullible crook up to a copy machine, put a colander on his head and say the contraption is a lie detector. Intimidated, the crook confesses. Police say the latest lie-detecting gizmo – one that looks for vocal tremors in recorded conversations – is [...]
