IJSLL (print) issn 1748-8885IJSLL (online) issn 1748-8893

The International

Journal ofSpeech,Languageand the Law

Article

Charlatanry in orensic speech science:

A problem to be taken seriously

Anders Eriksson and Francisco Lacerda

Abstract

A lie detector which can reveal lie and deception in some automatic and perectly

reliable way is an old idea we have oen met with in science fction books and comic

strips. Tis is all very well. It is when machines claimed to be lie detectors appear

in the context o criminal investigations or security applications that we need to be

concerned. In the present paper we will describe two types o ‘deception’ or ‘stress

detectors’ (euphemisms to reer to what quite clearly are known as ‘lie detectors’). Both

types o detection are claimed to be based on voice analysis but we ound no scientifc

evidence to support the manuacturers’ claims. Indeed, our review o scientifc studieswill show that these machines perorm at chance level when tested or reliability. Given

such results and the absence o scientifc support or the underlying principles it is justifed to view the use o these machines as charlatanry and we argue that thereare serious ethical and security reasons to demand that responsible authorities and institutions should not get involved in such practices.

keors: lie etetor, hrltnr, voie stress nlsis, pshologilstress evlutor, irotreor, lere voie nlsis, irportseurit

Afliations

Anders Eriksson: Gothenburg UniversityFrancisco Lacerda: Stockholm Universityemail:anders.eriksson@ling.gu.se

170 he interntionl ournl o speeh, lnguge n the l

Introduction

Caaa may b fd  a wa f f, cay  ac w  a by f ma my, ad fc c cc   xc.

e old disreputable voiceprint technique is still around and used by many

a a   US  aca. I Gmay, a yc f

specialized in crystallography appears in courts claiming to have invented

a amac a c md bad  md bwd fm

crystallography but refusing to subject his methods to independent testing

 a xacy w  md  d  w.  a j wxam. I   a, w, w w m  dy f caaay   w m wdy d y f  cad ‘ dc’. W w xaw y w, wa c y a camd  b bad  ad w y a fmd w d f aby.I d b ad  away a a   m  md f ab

lie detection is known and it is not even known if it should be possible to

d c md   f.  a  a dc 

 ma camd  b w  dc. y d  away ca 

dc  dc   m mm k ‘ aayz’  ‘maayz’,  y k a w  d   dc  ca 

 q a  dc a wa y wa   b  dca. H a w qa  a wa w ma:

Diogenes

Da Vc S Aay aca, wa ay d dm am a dc  aw fcm ac. I wd day y may a  wd ‘ dc’  fc   yf cy, b  y f cy acay dc dc  ma c. (

Diogenes

Cmay m a

)Pfa   d f  dc w a    ‘’  dc-, a y   a d  f f a ca b mad. … Hw,LVA  caab f dc   bd  , ad by d  caad y  dfy ad a   f. (

Nemesysco

m a

)

In this paper we will not address the question of whether these productsshould properly be referred to as lie detectors, emotion detectors or decep-tion detectors, but we will use the term ‘lie detector’ when we refer to theseproducts. e focus of this paper will be on the discrepancies between theclaims the producers and vendors make and what their products are capableof delivering.

hrltnr in orensi speeh siene 171

Validity vs. reliability

 cc f ady ad aby a mc d  ycy, acad may  aa ad w wd    a y md  f a dc  d  w jd   dc.  a may df-f ac f ady wc  ycca ac ad ac aad d ab ( ady, a ady, c ady c.). W

d   ccd w  da,  may c  y -

 wa y a  cmm.  ady f a    d  wc 

ma wa   dd  ma. Ray    ad a  dw c ad ccy. Hw accay d  md ma wa

  dd  ma? Hw mc w   ay f  mama ad by a  ac  by  ac?T   dc  md a mdca mca. I m

reasonable, from a methodological point of view, to begin by determiningthe validity of a suggested method before it makes much sense to study its

aby. If  md ca b w  ac ady a  w a acqc a b ab ad cay  a aby  ma.

If the validity is not known it will be a ‘black box’ whose reliability, if any,

will remain unexplained. We must keep in mind, however, that validity and

aby a  a   cc. A md may b ad  a dad aby may a fm y   am fc. A  fa d f  a ca w d   ay. I wd b a cm wa f

m  d m  dm w cy c may dc

f  w w w a  ady f  md  -x. A  d f  ca w d md  DNA  w ady

is solidly supported by scientic evidence and whose reliability is extremely

, ab  fc.

W c   dc (a w a , m  dc dc) a  w jd m     ady,  m m-

a q b: Ha  bac c  wc y a camd b bad b d  cc d? If w  bac a  y f  dc , w d a  q  dm ad ad  mdm dd.  a,    ad, c f aby  f 

‘black box’ type. We nd this rather surprising and quite unsatisfactory. We

wd k  a a  fd d f  d    am

 ady f  cd  ma  a  ad md a adad y w a a b abd cd  aby . fc  w f  b   aby  b  a a

dad aay f  cc d f  md, ..  ad-

ity. Based on these considerations we then explain why reliability tests have

Eriksson & Lacerda 2007

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