Lie detector test procedure
Everyone has heard of the lie detector test, but how does it actually work? Do you have to go to the police for it? Can you take the test over the phone or online? How do you find out if someone is really lying?
Where can the test take place?
We offer lie detector tests in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, among other places. For Germany, you can arrange an appointment in Augsburg, Frankfurt, Munich, Mannheim, Nuremberg, Regensburg, Stuttgart , Konstanz, Ulm, Berlin , Hamburg , Cologne, Düsseldorf , Bremen, Leipzig, Dresden, Hanover, Duisburg, Bochum, Bielefeld, Münster, Karlsruhe, Wiesbaden, Chemnitz, or Kiel.
HOW IT WORKS
Test procedure order:
1. You decide whether you want to book a Basic or an Advanced test.
2. You request an appointment via our website.
3. Ideally, you should let us know in advance which questions you would like to have clarified.
4. You come to the appointment at the agreed location.
5. A preliminary discussion takes place.
6. The person being tested is connected to the lie detector test device. This is a polygraph that can register several physiological processes and phenomena simultaneously. The device records several parameters, including pulse, respiration, skin resistance and temperature.
7. An expert (polygraph examiner) talks to the test subject and asks questions.
8. The polygraph registers the changes in the parameters when questions are asked and answers are given.
9. The expert evaluates the recordings and the test subject's reactions.
10. The analysis of the lie detector test will be communicated to you. You will receive a detailed evaluation using polygraph software and a graphic display.
Whether it is for clarifications in a relationship, criminal law issues or family law matters – with the lie detector test under the evaluation of an experienced examiner, you are highly likely to achieve an accurate result.
ACCURACY UP TO 99%
How reliable is a lie detector? How accurate is it?
In some countries, lie detector tests are even permitted in court because the device is more reliable than many eyewitness statements . International studies demonstrate the high level of accuracy. Of course, you can only achieve such accuracy with professional equipment and an experienced polygraph examiner. Dr. Jochen Salil, for example, has over 12 years of experience in this field. Attempts by test subjects to outwit someone are detected by both the lie detector and the examiner. Almost all liars are exposed by the test, even those who are trained to remain calm while lying. The residual risk that a test subject will succeed in outwitting both the device and the examiner is minimal . You can therefore assume that the probability of finding out the truth is very high.
The advantage of a lie detector is that it is not susceptible to influence. No matter how much the test subject blinks or flirts, the analysis of the body's own parameters is completely independent of this and therefore accurate. An experienced and well-trained polygraph examiner will not fall for such attempts to influence confidence. The examiner's expertise is very important when observing the test subject. Even the slightest eye movements are included in the analysis. This allows the examiner to recognize whether someone is deliberately looking up right or left when being questioned, for example because they have read in a book that something specific can be deduced from this, or whether the movement is controlled by the subconscious. Together with the machine evaluation of the test, this results in a statement with a high degree of certainty.
Loyalty Test Lie Detector
Test your partner for loyalty
The lie detector test is an excellent way to test your partner's fidelity. This is one of its most common applications. No matter how often your partner claims, "There was nothing there. It's not what you think," a lie will be detected during the lie detector test . With skillful conversation and questioning techniques, and the precise, simultaneous measurement of several parameters, cheating during the test is very difficult, even for professionals. In addition, an experienced examiner observes the test subject. A partner who truly loves you and is faithful will generally have no problem submitting to a lie detector test. They have nothing to fear. Nothing can replace such an in-person test. However, we also offer an online fidelity test, where we can evaluate your voice over the telephone. Our devices record even the slightest changes in vocal frequency, which the human ear cannot detect. Using a "voice stress analysis," we can then distinguish between truth and lies. But such a remote diagnosis can of course never replace a complete lie detector test on the device, which also measures other parameters that simply cannot be evaluated via a telephone connection.
Since fidelity is essential to a relationship, you shouldn't leave any room for uncertainty. If you're unsure whether your partner is faithful or unfaithful, come to one of our locations and take a lie detector test. Afterwards, you'll have peace of mind.
COST LIE DETECTOR
Cost of a lie detector test
Uncertainty can cost you nerves over time and may even lead to repeated arguments. The one-time cost of a lie detector test puts an end to this and provides clarity. In that respect, it's money well spent. Well invested in a partner or employee you want to trust. Theft or fraud in a company can be much more expensive. Stop accusing a third party of something you don't know is true. One lie detector test, and the uncertainty is over. But how much does the test cost?
A lie detector test is already available at our locations
From €599 if you choose the BASIC version. It's good for clarifying relationships. If you want to know whether your partner has been telling the truth in certain situations. Five of your own questions are included. Also recommended for criminal or family law questions. From €799 if you want to know for sure and even want to catch professional liars. With an anti-cheat sensor (air pressure hand sensor), even the most professional lie detector can be outsmarted. The results can be used in the form of a credibility assessment. It is often used when infidelity in business or family life is suspected, as well as in cases of theft and manipulation. 20 of your own questions are possible here.
In addition, if you can't come to us, we also offer remote testing. The costs are as follows: Telephone loyalty test including voice analysis: from €299. Written report: from €200. So you see: The lie detector test costs are manageable and cover not only the use of the modern polygraph and software, but also the deployment of an experienced examiner. Even if you invest between €500 and €1,000 for such a test, it's generally money well spent. Consider how long uncertainty would otherwise torment you and how stressful it would be.
TYPICAL APPLICATIONS
Examples of
lie detector test applications
– Theft in companies or within the family
– Suspicion of infidelity in marriage or partnership
– Suspicion of sexual abuse
– Presumably unfounded accusations against a person
– Lie detector test to substantiate one's credibility in criminal proceedings
– Lie detector test to substantiate one's credibility in civil proceedings
POSSIBLE TO TEST YOURSELF?
Do your own lie detector test
Unless you've been trained as a polygraph examiner, you won't be able to reliably administer a lie detector test yourself. While there are often cheap devices on the market that claim to be able to do this, they're generally unreliable, and they generally don't have the professional software we have available. The person conducting the test, the examiner, is crucial, however. Only the combination of a professional polygraph, professional software, and a professional examiner creates a functioning whole that will help you progress. It's no use conducting something yourself with dubious equipment that will only leave you feeling insecure again. Therefore, a homemade lie detector test is not an effective solution. It won't get you anywhere. Instead, rely on experts.
Why taking lie detector tests yourself is not helpful
When you do it yourself, you usually don't just lack a decent device, but above all the experience of a trained polygraph examiner. Therefore, the result can only be vague. What good is a "could be" or "could be"? That would put you just as far as you were before. Experience also teaches us that people who have tried such a test themselves or ended up with vague providers sooner or later end up seeing a professional anyway to get a reliable result. This means they've ultimately paid twice. If you decide to take a lie detector test, have it done by a professional.
THE RIGHT KNOW-HOW
Why is experience as an examiner so important?
In the US, polygraph examiners who want to work for the Department of Defense must undergo a four-year training program for a reason. This is because experience in handling the polygraph, but above all experience with test subjects and their behavior, is extremely important. Therefore, we rely exclusively on experienced and well-trained examiners.
Of course, there are always attempts to manipulate the results. People try to "coolly" sit through an interview. Some people even train to supposedly "cheat" a lie detector test. But is that even possible with an experienced examiner?
TRICK? HARDLY
Can a lie detector be manipulated or tricked?
It is often claimed that certain techniques can be used to outsmart a lie detector. However, this is very difficult, if not impossible, because the lie detector test measures several body parameters simultaneously, including:
– Respiratory rate
– Pulse
– Skin resistance
– Temperature –
Heart rate –
Air resistance
– Blood pressure
It is difficult for one person to influence all of these things simultaneously, as they are partly controlled by the subconscious. Using certain meditation or breathing techniques, one may be able to consciously keep one's breathing even, but influencing one's pulse and skin resistance independently is almost impossible. The multiple tests, which are also accompanied by a human (examiner) who also observes the test subject, make manipulation almost impossible. There are very few people in the world who could achieve this. It is unlikely that your partner, employee, or business partner is one of them. Even alibi agencies that want to cover up infidelities usually only offer fake lie detector tests, where the result is already known before the questioning and the lied to partner is only meant to get the impression that they have not been lied to.
We haven't yet met anyone who offers effective polygraph test manipulation courses. Outsmarting both the device and the human simultaneously is bordering on impossible.
We've seen it all when it comes to attempts to manipulate polygraph tests: from seminars on how to "fail with confidence" to books like "How to Pass a Polygraph Test with Confidence." All attempts at manipulation by an experienced polygraph examiner have one thing in common: they will almost certainly fail. This is because an experienced examiner knows that there are test subjects who will try this. An experienced examiner always has more experience than the test subject.
TEST YOURSELF FROM HOME?
Can you take a polygraph test privately and affordably?
It may be that one of your acquaintances has a component from a children's electronics kit or from a simple Asian device that they believe is a functioning lie detector. They may even actually believe it themselves. But here, it's like the millions of men who sit on the sofa at the weekend, watching Bundesliga on TV and "could have scored" that one decisive goal. In reality, they've often been on the school team's bench... and can't even play football properly; they just know everything better. A lie detector test isn't some hocus-pocus, but a scientific evaluation of facts that only becomes a complete whole through the experience of the examiner. This starts with the design of the questions for the test subjects and ends with the proper analysis. We've even seen providers ourselves offering something seemingly cheap at dumping prices that, upon closer inspection, don't stand up to scrutiny. After more than a decade of experience, we can tell you one thing with certainty when it comes to lie detector tests: "If it doesn't cost anything, it's nothing." Nowhere is this statement more true than when it comes to distinguishing between lies and truth. A test that leaves you with questions and uncertainty about why you took the test in the first place isn't worth five euros. Don't experiment. Instead, see a professional right away. Come to us.
A lie detector test isn't comparable to card reading, coffee grounds reading, or similar procedures. Rather, the evaluation of the body's own parameters is carried out neutrally by the polygraph, which registers even the smallest changes. Even if your heart rate only increases slightly or you sweat almost imperceptibly. You can smile and play it off, but the machine notices. It 's not for nothing that in the USA, where the CIA, FBI, and forensic experts use such testing procedures on a massive scale, only experienced examiners are employed, who then combine the technical evaluation and the test subject's behavior to produce a proper analysis. This isn't guaranteed for someone who only does it privately on the side and may already be using an inadequate device.
TEST POSSIBLE IN THE AREA
Lie detector test nearby
Of course, a lie detector test nearby is convenient for you, so you don't have to travel far. Therefore, we offer the test at several locations in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. This ensures that you never have to travel far to get to us, but can always reach the test location quickly. This can be important when it comes to convincing the person being tested to take the test. This eliminates the excuse "I don't want to drive 1,000 km for something like that—I'm faithful anyway." We therefore offer you a convenient selection of various locations:
A lie detector test is available at our locations
Berlin Düsseldorf Hamburg Stuttgart Augsburg Bielefeld Bochum Bremen Chemnitz Dresden Duisburg Frankfurt Hanover Karlsruhe Kiel Cologne Konstanz Leipzig Mannheim Munich Münster Nuremberg Regensburg Ulm Wiesbaden
We're sure there's a lie detector testing location in Germany that's easily accessible from your home or business location. Give us a call; we'll handle your request discreetly.
In Germany, lie detector tests are frequently used by lawyers, even in civil court proceedings, and can undermine testimony , cast doubt on credibility, or substantiate it. Many a criminal has even collapsed during a lie detector test and confessed because they felt caught out.
Because the lie detector test can be performed near you, you usually save yourself the expense of a hotel stay, which you can, of course, still do with your partner if you wish. Some even include such a test during a short vacation in another city. It's up to you. The many locations for lie detector tests that we offer in Germany allow you maximum flexibility.
AUSTRIA
Lie detector test in Austria
For our Austrian customers, we have several locations in addition to our headquarters in Vienna where we can conduct the test. You can reach us in Austria at:
– Vienna
– Graz
– Salzburg
– Linz
– Bregenz
– Innsbruck
SWITZERLAND
Lie detector test in Switzerland
In Switzerland, the test is used just as frequently in private fidelity matters as in corporate financial contexts. Therefore, we offer polygraph testing at the following centers:
Basel, St. Gallen, St. Moritz, Zurich, Liechtenstein
Of course, we also administer the test discreetly in Switzerland. Since financial matters in Switzerland often involve large sums of money, the additional security you gain through a lie detector test can be crucial – in your personal life, in matters of loyalty, or even in your business life. The costs of such a test procedure are negligible. What are 500 or even 1,000 francs compared to the risk of losing hundreds of thousands or even millions? A negligible amount. Certainly one reason why we are frequently booked in Switzerland.
COURT
Acceptance of the lie detector test in court and in general
A lie detector test enjoys relatively high public acceptance when it's conducted professionally and accompanied by a professional evaluation. This is the case with us. Furthermore, it's often the case that a lie uncovered by a lie detector test is then admitted by someone who wasn't quite so truthful beforehand.
Evidential value of lie detector tests in court
In Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, judges in criminal courts are granted a free evaluation of evidence. They may evaluate and weigh the evidence presented themselves. While the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Germany once ruled that no one may be convicted solely on the basis of a polygraph, it is also not prohibited to introduce such an evaluation into the proceedings.
You just don't have a legal right to it. Here, the saying "where there's smoke, there's fire" applies. Something always sticks with the judge—even a lie detector test result heard once. It can help increase or challenge a witness's credibility. In Switzerland and Austria, courts have a problem with lie detectors in matters of human dignity, because the test subject has no influence on the result. In this way, the courts essentially confirm the largely unbiased nature of the lie detector.
COURT
Lie detectors in court cases
In fact, district courts have repeatedly based their decisions on polygraph tests in recent years, e.g., the Bautzen District Court, decision of January 28, 2013, Ref. 12 F 1032/12. The result there also exonerated the defendant in subsequent criminal proceedings.
In civil courts, it has been repeatedly used by one of the parties, especially in family cases. The Federal Court of Justice later rejected this practice. Nevertheless, mentioning a test result in court will usually have an effect.
Lie detectors may still be used on a voluntary basis in police investigations. However, no one may be forced to do so.
Polygraphs in court cases in the USA:
In the USA, the use of polygraphs in court cases is a relatively common tool for assessing credibility. Judges and juries rely on them, as do investigators. The CIA and FBI use polygraphs regularly because they have proven to be successful.
COURT
Familiar and known information and the reaction to it
Its use in American investigative agencies is also so successful because a good polygraph can recognize whether the test subject is receiving familiar and known information or new information.
So if you present a perpetrator with information that only the perpetrator can know, the perpetrator will react differently than a person who did not commit the crime and therefore does not have the perpetrator's knowledge. However, you cannot rely on this alone - you also have to clarify whether the person could have obtained the knowledge from other sources, e.g. from a newspaper, a conversation or another survey. A trained examiner will always use so-called comparison questions in order to be able to compare the intensity of the body's reaction to different questions. Such questions are worked out in a preliminary interview with the test person. In this way, the examiner recognizes things that the test person is reluctant to talk about. In a later test in criminal proceedings, a perpetrator will usually react more strongly to questions about the crime, while a non-offender will react more strongly to comparison questions that the examiner has worked out from the preliminary interview.
James Bond and the lie detector
Some people only know lie detectors from early James Bond films. However, the device shown there served more as a cinematic build-up of suspense than for scientific investigation. Similar early devices from the 1970s, which were used by US federal agencies, are on display at the German Spy Museum in Berlin. Such antiquated devices, however, cannot be compared to modern lie detectors, such as those used today in Germany. Just as we no longer chug around in the early Daimler automobiles, but build modern cars, so too are state-of-the-art lie detectors used in Germany today. These are also used by Israeli and American security agencies and, of course, have much more precise measurement methods than 100 or 20 years ago. By using the most modern measurement methods in combination with the experience of a well-trained polygraph examiner, very high reliability rates, approaching 100%, are achieved. Any well-trained examiner with good, modern equipment is far superior to the James Bond from early films. Because lie detector tests are no longer used for cinematic effects, but rather for the sober determination of truth and untruth.
Multiple rounds of lie detector tests
When polygraph tests are used in Germany, several rounds are usually carried out to rule out random results, exogenous interference, or other errors. However, several rounds of polygraph tests usually confirm the results of an initial test. The polygraph examiner requires a great deal of experience in order to correctly interpret certain patterns of the signals sent by the body and to rule out any possible errors. A trained eye can quickly spot any attempts at influence, even in polygraph tests in Germany. Test subjects often move their heads or eyes imperceptibly, for example, or grit their teeth. Some subjects want to achieve certain effects with the targeted use of such patterns. A well-trained examiner in Germany does not miss this. They smile inwardly, but in a way that the subject cannot see.
The inventor of the detector married his first test subject
Remarkably, the inventor of the lie detector later married his first test subject, student Margaret Taylor, because he was sure she truly loved him.
History of the lie detector
Many Americans consider John Larson to be the inventor of the lie detector. Originally from Canada, he moved to the USA with his parents and in 1921 developed what was arguably the first modern lie detector. To do this, however, he relied on earlier developments of a machine by William Moulton Marston. At the time, he combined a blood pressure monitor with a breathalyzer and believed that this alone could convict liars of lying. Even back then, he attached probes to the chest and upper arm of a potential liar. He then read out questions and had the device record the reactions taking place in the subject's body. Several graphs were drawn, hence the name polygraph for "multi-recorder." A machine that records several lines simultaneously.
Police awarded large contracts for detectors in the USA
As luck would have it, inventor Larson later worked for the police, where his colleague enhanced the Larson polygraph with another functionality: the lie detector could now also measure finger sweat. Police departments subsequently ordered lie detectors by the dozen because they were satisfied with the test results. Criminals feared lie detectors like the devil fears holy water. Larson was able to get his assistant Keeler excited about the device, and Keeler found more and more police units across the United States that wanted to use the device. While the first devices were very large, technological advances made it possible to make them increasingly smaller. The first lie detectors can still be admired today in a polygraph museum. Lie detectors are still in widespread use in the USA: Both the CIA and the FBI use lie detectors to check whether a witness or perpetrator is telling the truth or lying.
Mobile devices for the US Army
In the early 2000s, the US Army even used greatly reduced mobile devices in Afghanistan to uncover possible spies or to check the reliability of security guards, as NBC reported.
Lie detector can save lives
When considering purchasing one for the army in the USA, it was decided that a lie detector test was a suitable way to save lives by using it to check local police officers, interpreters and allied forces entering US military bases. Such tests have even been used to narrow down suspects in roadside bomb attacks. The devices had previously been tested in Iraq and the conclusions drawn from the use of the device and analysis by trained personnel were correct in the overwhelming majority of cases. However, it was also concluded that using the device alone in untrained hands was not effective. Even an expensive device is of no use if it is used by an untrained layperson. This also applies if the device is supposed to automatically output colors that indicate the result of the examination: Green: The person is probably telling the truth Red: The person is trying to deceive Yellow: The device cannot make a clear decision. An interpreter was supposed to ask questions during tests such as, "Do you intend to answer my questions truthfully?" "Are the lights on in this room?" "Are you a member of the Taliban?" The device took over a minute to evaluate the measurements. The software for the device was written by the Advanced Physics Lab at the renowned American Johns Hopkins University. However, it had to be acknowledged that these mobile lie detectors were less accurate than professional polygraphs because they also asked and evaluated fewer parameters from the test subject. The mobile devices could not evaluate breathing rate, for example. Nevertheless, even critics had to admit that the test results were far above chance findings.
What Americans are hiding about the invention of the lie detector
America is proud of its inventors. And rightly so. In the case of the lie detector, however, it is certain that the Americans drew on a basic idea that was actually developed in Europe: At the beginning of the 20th century, the two psychologists Carl Gustav Jung and Max Wertheimer independently developed procedures based on physiopsychology that were intended to serve as indicators for legal proceedings. At the University of Graz, Vittorio Benussi built the first device in 1913 that recorded both breathing phases and pulse. This device was supposed to be able to determine whether someone was lying or not. Larson's assistant, Leonarde Keeler, first tested a model based on this device in 1935.
American Polygraph Association
In the US, there is even an American Polygraph Association, the APA, which also regulates the licensing and training of court-certified experts from a scientific perspective and has offices in many states. The American Polygraph Association represents over 2,800 polygraph examiners, including numerous experts responsible for administering lie detector tests for the judiciary and government. This ensures high reliability in test interpretation and also maintains high moral and ethical standards.
Take a lie detector test – only recommended by a trained polygraph examiner
Taking a lie detector test is not only a matter of course in the USA, but is common practice in many countries around the world. However, such a test should only be administered by a trained polygraph examiner, because only the symbiosis of excellent technology, good software, and the experience of a trained examiner can ensure a highly reliable analysis. The best device is of no use if the examiner lacks the necessary experience – which is why this is so important. With Dr. Jochen Salil, more than 12 years of experience and his extensive work as a detective guarantee that the results of such a lie detector test are something you can rely on. His team is therefore continuously trained by outstanding experts. You benefit from the quality of his work.