NCJ Number
78153
Journal
Polygraph Volume: 9 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1980) Pages: 251-271
Date Published
1980
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This summary of the Virginia Department of Commerce report on voice stress analysis has not found the Audio Stress Evaluator an effective method for the determination of deception.
Abstract
The Virginia State Police polygraph examiners, using their equipment, tape recorded polygraph examinations. The results were sent to the department of commerce and then distributed to an Audio Stress Evaluator (PSE) examiner of a private security firm and department investigators to be charted through the PSE process. The results obtained by the PSE and polygraph examiners were correlated by an independent statistician. The study established no significant relationship between results obtained from the PSE examination of criminal suspects and those obtained from polygraph examination of the same subjects. Furthermore, there was no consistent comparison in any aspect of the PSE tests with any operator. Hence, the guilt or innocence of an individual was determined by the operator of the machine and not by any absolute that could be consistently read by interchangeable operators of the machine. A report by the security firm, a list of Board of Commerce members, tabular data, and about 10 references are appended.