YOUR VOICE IS YOU
YOUR VOICE IS YOU, a self portrait, accessed by telephone, created with the use of LVA 6.0 a risk assessment voice analysis software. 2015
YOUR VOICE IS YOU explores the widespread use of voice analysis by government agencies and private companies. It is used as an ‘investigative focus tool’ or lie detector by law enforcement, border control and state level intelligence gathering. It is also used as part of risk assessment by private companies such as banks and insurance claims departments. Voice analysis can be carried out in interview settings or on the phone. It is completely non-intrusive. You may well have interacted with this software – claiming job seekers allowance, setting up a bank account, travelling across international borders, speaking with telesales people or phoning your insurance company.
In this work I used a market leading voice analysis software to analyse myself, having discovered I had inadvertently recorded 3 years worth of my voice in phone conversations on a malfunctioning phone app. I had been exploring the software in previous work – Eloquent Voice: Lies and Other Truths but had not been interested in whether or not the software ‘worked’ but simply the fact it was being used at all. When I began to work with my own voice I was very interested in what it picked up and categorized as truth, confusion, embarrassment, stress, excitement & anticipation and suspected lies and untruths.
YOUR VOICE IS YOU exists as a sound work accessed by telephone (2015), it is not currently live. When the caller gets through they are invited to navigate using their telephone keypad to choose between TRUTH, CONFUSION, EMBARRASSMENT, STRESS, EXCITEMENT & ANTICIPATION and SUSPECTED LIES & UNTRUTHS. Each choice brings up fragments of conversation which have been categorized accordingly by the software.
YOUR VOICE IS YOU was commissioned by FCAC for Portraits+ in 2015 and shown again as part of Hidden Door, Edinburgh and SECRET at the Dublin Science Gallery.
The number is not currently live.
Voice Analysis Software provided by Nemesysco
