Locally, it may become a little harder to get away with such infractions now that a company based in Austin is expanding its services in mobile lie detection.
The Truth Texas, a firm offering in-person polygraph services in Austin, recently announced the new addition of mobile voice analysis to its services. The process is performed over the phone and the firm claims it can fish out lies, find out if a person is cheating on their significant other or if an employee is stealing.
Using this service, the accused calls The Truth Texas office to take a lie detector test via a landline or mobile phone for a 45-minute phone interview and the firm promises an e-mailed truth or deception report within 24 hours for $75.
Co-founder Amanda Rey said sophisticated algorithms in voice inflection technology are used to uncover deception in over-the-phone interviews and that the staff comprised of herself, two former law enforcement officers and a former Marine are qualified to read the results and determine whether the truth was told. A person under suspicion needs to be willing to interview, call the company, be in a quiet area with a clear connection and stay sedentary.
Questions are predetermined before interviews and typically involve a control group of questions that are able to be answered and verified as being true, such as an individual’s name and birthday. This control group of questions is paired with the grouping of questions that have placed the person under suspicion. Results are compared by the staff and a determination is made whether the person told the truth or lied.
Rey says that approximately 75% of her clients are the accused, who are trying to clear their names. Results are now all done by e-mail, though the company previously phoned clients with results in the past.
“We did (results over the phone) before but it’s not usually good,” said Rey. “It’s easier to not get into a long, drawn out confrontation.”
While Rey claims the accuracy of the polygraph to near perfection, she says the cell phone option hovers about 7% lower, but still around 90%. Rey did not supply any studies to support her claims. Research studies disagree, labeling the practice of computer voice analysis as little better than chance in determining a reliable outcome. A 2007 study funded by the Institute of Justice, a research arm of the Department of Justice, found that voice stress analysis was only able to accurately detect deception about recent drug use in prisoners about 50% of the time. The validity of polygraph examinations, which The Truth Texas also offers, are seen as somewhat more accurate but are also a hotbed of contention, with most courts of law not allowing the practice into evidence.
Rey claims that both methods have improved greatly and that despite a lack of independent studies in voice analysis, the process is secure. She says that lawyers offering the service of a polygraph examination charge upward of $1,200 and that the voice analysis service is a cost-efficient way to achieve peace of mind.
“We’re trying to find something between Maury (The Maury Povich Show) and the $1,200 option to provide people with as much information as possible,” said Rey. “You may have to see it to believe it, but it really is accurate.”
