Detecting suspicious behaviour using speech: Acoustic correlates of deceptive speech – An exploratory investigation

The current work intended to enhance our knowledge of changes or lack of changes in the speech signal when people were being deceptive. In particular, the study attempted to investigate the appropriateness of using speech cues in detecting deception. Truthful, deceptive and control speech were elicited from ten speakers in an interview setting. The data were subjected to acoustic analysis and results are presented on a range of speech parameters including fundamental frequency (f0), overall amplitude and mean vowel formants F1, F2 and F3. A significant correlation could not be established between deceptiveness/truthfulness and any of the acoustic features examined. Directions for future work are highlighted.