Human oral communication has features that can be used to offer useful information about the speaker apart from the linguistic content, meaning, of what was spoken and this indexical information can be vital in forensic tasks. In this context the indexical information relates to all the aspects of speech signal as well as the meaning of the utterances based on the emotional status of the speaker, such as stress or excitement (Harnsberger, et al 2009). This paper offers succinct information relating to deception detection based on stress especially with regard to President Richard M. Nixon’s significant controversy in the 1970's. The paper gives an analysis of the questionable tapes that were recorded during his administration though evaluating his vocals and the pitches.
On Tuesday 23rd March, 1971 President Nixon engaged in a thirty minutes discussion concerning the Associated Milk Producers with political action committee. The issue at hand related to the advisability of maintaining milk price supports as the 1972 general elections approached. In this conversation, it is indicated that the president is not consistent in his speech especially when he is asked concerning the prices of milk and the decisions that they had undertaken (Nixon Presidential Library & Museum, 2012). For instance, in the first instance he states that they had decided on a different course of action in the cheese business. However, when interrogated by Hardin the president changes his statement and it can be seen that there was a difference and inflexion in his voice. He contradicts himself and states that what he meant was not that they had decided but that was all that they could have done (to take a different course of action in the cheese business).
It is also recorded that on Friday, June 23rd, 1972 President Nixon had a conversation that is basically referred to as, “The Smoking Gun Conversation” in which the president and Haldeman discuss the progress of the FBI’s investigation. This was mainly focused on the tracking of the source of funds that was recovered from the robbers. The conversation ends with a proposal of having the CIA inform the FBI to halt their exploration of the Watergate break-in by claiming that the invasion was a national security operation. In this conversation the president is very anxious about the findings of the information on the FBI investigations since he did not want the information to be made public. This is exhibited in his speech that is not coordinated and he seemed to be angry as he mentions obscene and unethical words such as “…what the hell and who was the asshole that did”…among other unthinkable words to be spoken by the president (Nixon Presidential Library & Museum, 2012).
The information presented in most of recorded tapes during president Nixon presents information on deception detection since in most cases the he seemed restless and nervous of what could be leaked to the public concerning his administrative policies. There was continuous change in his vocal patterns that was accompanied by different tones …