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Test sub­jects wanted: VACE study in­vest­ig­ates pat­terns in hu­man speech

27.10.2021, Press Release :

Lie until the beams bend - and in the service of science? This opportunity is offered by the research project VACE (Voice Analysis for Customer Emotions), for which the Institute for Service Management (CROSS) at HNU and the Technology Transfer Centre Günzburg (TTZ) are currently looking for subjects willing to fib. The aim of the project is a technically supported analysis of inner beliefs in spoken language. Amazon vouchers worth up to 200 euros will be raffled off among the participants.

As part of the VACE research project, patterns in the voice of potential customers are recorded and interpreted to offer companies a way to optimise individual customer handling. To do this, scientists are developing, training and testing an artificial intelligence (AI) that identifies the smallest changes in human speech. Now the researchers are looking for people aged 16 and over to assist in an experiment to collect data.

Liars wanted

The test persons are asked to recite five stories of about one to two minutes on self-selected topics. The test persons are free to decide what they tell and in which of their stories they lie or tell the truth - at least one story, however, must be made up. Successful deceptions are rewarded: if the participants succeed in outwitting the evaluation team, they receive one point per successful lie. A voucher will be raffled off in each grouping after the data collection is completed.

In the experiment conducted online via Zoom, only the audio stream is recorded and evaluated completely anonymously. Afterwards, the test persons fill out a short questionnaire. In total, the experiment takes about 15 minutes to complete.

Interested parties can contact the project team directly via email or Instagram. More information about the project is available on the HNU website: www.hnu.de/forschung/institute-kompetenzzentren/institut-fuer-dienstleistungsmanagement/forschung/vace-emotionen-in-sprache (project page) and www.hnu.de/hochschule/wissenschaftsblog/nachgeforscht/artikel/2021/10/12/luegen-fuer-die-wissenschaft-projekt-vace-erforscht-muster-in-der-menschlichen-stimme (blog post).

Contact

Prof. Dr. Heiko Gewald: Heiko.Gewald@hnu.de  
Fabian Thaler: Fabian.Thaler@hnu.de

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