Did you know that there are approximately 70,000 ways to pronounce the same word? When we speak, the tone changes, the volume of sound varies and the rate of speech fluctuates, depending on the people and the emotion that is put into what we are saying. A team of researchers from CNRS and IRCAM (Music and Sound Sciences and Technologies laboratory at the Acoustic-Music Research and Coordination Institute) worked on the lie with the objective of answering this question: can we identify a lie by the simple sound of the voice?
After a series of experiments, scientists came to the conclusion that one can distinguish an honest tone from a confident tone, or even a hesitant tone, even … lying. The tone is indeed equipped with a sort of “signature” depending on the intention behind it, which scientists call “prosody”.. The latter would even be common to several languages, such as French, English or even Spanish.
A tone specific to each intention
For example, if you are credible, you will have a very specific diction: it will be fast, will have a peak of intensity in the middle before going back down when you finish revealing your information.
The tone of the other sends “automatic” information to the brain, explain the researchers: “Even when participants don’t have to judge the speaker’s certainty or honesty, this characteristic sound impacts the way they memorize words.“
Source : Recognize a liar by the sound of his voice?, CNRS, February 8, 2021.
Read also:
- Lie: how to recognize a liar
- Stop lying to be healthier!
