NCJ Number
122902
Date Published
1980
Length
26 pages
Annotation
Law enforcement personnel and other criminal justice staff would find it useful to have techniques for reliably identifying the emotions felt by a speaker, the presence or absence of psychosis, or the presence of lying.
Abstract
Although several studies have found relationships between the speaker's stress and various acoustical and temporal components of speech, clear relationships that could be applied in field settings have not yet been found. In addition, most of the research on the speech correlates of psychoses such as schizophrenia and depression has used medicated patients. In addition, conflicting data make generalizations questionable. Furthermore, studies of lie detection by voice analysis suggest an important role for stress, although the effectiveness of voice analysis is not yet known. Some evidence exists that devices can detect stress if the level is high enough but that they are ineffective if the stress level is relatively low. In addition, the potential use of voice analyzers raises issues regarding potential abuses, violations of civil liberties, and invasion of the right to privacy. 85 references.