New software can trap lying CEOs

LONDON, UK: Using a new technique, Layered Voice Analysis, can decipher whether CEOs are lying or not, a study reveals.

Duke University and University of Illinois researchers turned to an Israeli firm Nemesysco and claim that they find "vocal dissonance" in the CEOs' speech at precisely the point when they were lying.

If true, the discovery could revolutionize the world of finance, and have ramifications in many spheres of life, the Daily Mail reported.

Nemecysco's technology involves electronically analysing minute changes in people's voices to look for "tells" that they are lying, could save billions in investor calls if it could pinpoint that a CEO isn't telling the truth.

"We find vocal dissonance markers from the early part of the speech samples -- the precise time when dissonance should be most pronounced -- are positively associated with four measures of dissonance from misreporting," said the researchers.

"This lends support for the LVA-based cognitive dissonance measure. In an archival setting, we find that cognitive dissonance in CEO speech can predict whether a firm's quarterly financial reports will be adversely restated at better than chance levels," they added.

The researchers claim that the Layered Voice Analysis technique provides an automated way to scan for the distinctive sound of someone lying.