I just failed a Voice Stress test on the 27th. It was a very short test, only about 15 questions. The examiner asked them 3 times. Then he shortened the test to just 5 questions, focusing on the ones I was having "trouble" with. The examiner stated I was having a problem with two questions; using marijuana in the past two years and associating with individuals who commit crimes. After asking me several times about why I was stressing about these questions, he states as far as he can tell, I am not a thief or a liar and that he had to have another individual look over the results and they would call me later that day.

After three days of not calling me, I called them and an office manager at this county office told me I would not be going on to any further testing. The next day I got a letter stating the same.

I told the truth to every question on the test and now I'm finished. I am very angry and frustrated.

Mike,

I am saddened and angered to learn of your experience. Voice stress analysis, like polygraphy, is junk science, and it is an outrage that government agencies are branding people as liars and barring them from employment based on it. Although your immediate concern is clearing your name and getting hired, you might consider writing to your senators and representative asking them to sponsor a Comprehensive Employee Polygraph Protection Act that would prevent what happened to you from happening to others. AntiPolygraph.org has proposed language for such legislation here:

http://antipolygraph.org/ceppa.shtml

As for disputing the results of the voice stress "test," there is no way to prove a negative. That is, you can't prove that you didn't use marijuana within the past two years and that you didn't associate with individuals who commit crimes.

But what you can and should do is to write a polite letter to the department in question, explaining that you indeed told the truth during the voice stress examination and requesting a re-test. If offered a second voice stress test, the "behavioral countermeasures" described in Chapter 4 of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector might help you to pass.

I mailed the letter on the 2nd, I hope I hear something next week?

They never told me what caused me to be disqualified. All they said was "You won't be going on to any further testing". I was told that's all they could tell me.

Mike,

You're absolutely right! The reliance of federal, state, and local agencies on pseudoscientific lie detectors makes very little sense.

But so long as a sizable portion of a gullible public continues to believe in the lie detector (whether polygraph or voice stress "testing"), mandatory polygraph screening gives politicians a means of appearing to be "tough."

I hope you'll consider working with us to put an end to this nonsense. Apart from contacting your federal legislators(congressman and senators), you might also contact your state legislators and ask them to sponsor legislation to ban employment-related lie detector "testing." Minnesota's anti-lie detector statute is a good model for other states to follow. You'll find it in Appendix E of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector (3rd ed.).

Also, you might consider writing a public statement about your experience for publication on AntiPolygraph.org. While we have numerous statements documenting polygraph abuse, we don't yet have any statements from voice stress victims. Your statement would help to document the harm caused by reliance on this quackery.