jim bell wrote:
At 09:23 AM 10/6/96 -0700, Dale Thorn wrote:
jim bell wrote:
This reminds me... Years ago, somebody developed a technique called "Voice Stress Analysis," which was supposed to detect small variations in a person's voice in response to stress. Not exactly a lie-detector, but it was supposed to do nearly the same thing. Does anybody plan to analyze the debates for stress? Is there software to do this? (Tried to do a web-search; didn't see anything.)
One thing I wonder is this: Can the stress indications be removed from a voice-containing signal by some sophisticated DSP processing? Just look for whatever effect that indicates stress, add it in equal and negative amounts to eliminate the apparent stress, etc. It might not make sense for anything less "critical" than debates, but if the control of the debates is as monopolized as we think it is, it is reasonable to think that debate participants would insist on a certain level of control over the audio signal.
Well, it's been about 20 years since the Stockhausen/Soundstream digital reprocessing of the Caruso recordings (other artists as well), and it would make sense that "they" can do exactly what you suggest, and very well indeed. If you recorded the debates yourself, and if you could do the analysis (much easier than faking anything), you'd have something to compare to the talking-head versions from TV. Unfortunately, the major media will not likely present any voice-analysis info unless it's done by one or two of the nation's top labs, which (it goes without saying) get most of their work presumably from government agencies.