The Guardian | Listen and learn: the hidden secret to spotting a liar by Holly Watt AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. The article explains that humans are surprisingly good at detecting deception just by hearing a voice, because speech carries a wealth of subtle cues about physiology, emotion, and intent that our brains process almost instantaneously. Research by neuroscientists such as Sophie Scott and Silke Paulmann shows that vocal characteristics reveal a speaker’s age, sex, health, accent, and even stress levels, while studies by Dora Giorgianni demonstrate that people achieve far higher lie‑detection accuracy when they listen without visual information—61 % versus 35 %—since visual cues overload our limited attention and memory. Although certain vocal patterns (e.g., pitch changes or faster speech) can signal stress, there is no single reliable “tell” of lying; instead, our ability to gauge truth relies on a rapid, subconscious integration of many vocal signals, making focused listening a more effective tool than watching facial expressions or body language. Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/may/14/hidden-secret-to-spotting-a-liar-voice-inflections #SophieScott #SilkePaulmann #evolution #psychology #science