The P.I. in the story even stated that the software is more accurate than a standard polygraph test so the chances of Cain slipping by it are much lower, and then you add in the fact that his accuser failed it miserably and you have enough evidence to prove him innocent.
Voice-Analysis: How Reliable?
But questions have been raised in the past about how reliable voice-analysis software really is as a lie detector.
Proponents say it is more accurate than traditional polygraph tests, which look at physiological traits like blood pressure, pulse and respiration rather than voice qualities. According to Ward, the software he uses -- "layered voice analysis," or LVA, which is manufactured by
Nemesysco in
Israel and distributed in the United States by the Wisconsin-based
Voice Analysis Technologies -- is 95 percent accurate and employed by 70 law enforcement agencies around the country.
Another Type of Analysis: CVSA
However, another type of voice-analysis software -- the
National Institute for Truth Verification's "computer voice stress analyzer," or CVSA, which claims a 98 percent accuracy rate -- came under fire in 2006 when
ABC News reported that it had falsely implicated several people in crimes they did not commit.
The United States military used to use the CVSA software when interrogating suspected terrorists in the Guantánamo Bay detention center in
Cuba, but the Pentagon banned it after a study showed it was no more reliable than a coin flip.
Additionally, when the family of a man who was falsely accused of murder based on the results of a CVSA test sued the manufacturer, a psychologist who tested the software for the
Michigan State Police Department testified under oath that it did not actually work, ABC News reported.
"This device is nothing more than a prop," the psychologist, John Palmatier, said. "You could not accurately discriminate between truthful and deceptive subjects using that device." He said police mostly used it as a "scare tactic" to get suspects to confess.
