FAQs
An answer for every question
Who is behind Emotionalysis.com and AreYouTalking2Me.com?
This website is the result of an ongoing close cooperation between Gold-Gate GmbH, the experts in Emotional Incentives and Emotional Marketing, and ExAudios Technologies Ltd, the Voice Analysis and Emotional Profiling specialists.
Why the name “Are You Talking 2 Me”?
For 2 reasons…
- Everything we say has 2 levels. The content level (i.e. our words) and the emotional level (i.e. the emotions reflected in our voice and the emotional impact we make). We chose a name that symbolizes both levels.
- We are reminded of the famous scene in Taxi Driver, where Travis Bickle (played by Robert De Niro) is standing in front of the mirror, repeatedly practicing the line “are you talking to me?” – trying to align the emotional impact he wants to make with what he says. Not surprisingly, this is one of the top-10 most memorable film-quotes.
How can I improve the accuracy of my Emotionalysis?
We strongly recommend that you:
- Use a high-quality microphone.
- Use the application in a quiet environment.
- Think in advance of what you would like to say. Use the 3 seconds countdown to gain your full focus.
- Make sure there are no distractions while you speak. Speak fluently, preferably in your mother-language.
- Focus on one person, situation, object or idea. Focusing on abstract ideas, vague situations or on multiple persons may create a “watered-down averaged result”.
- IMPORTANT: Keep yourself focused on the situation, person, object or the idea you are trying to get a feedback on – rather than on the result you expect to get! This is another reason why often the first test is the most accurate…
- We recommend closing your eyes while you focus on the subject. Recent studies showed that while our eyes are closed certain areas in our brain that are also responsible for our imagination are stimulated and are more active. This will enable you to better imagine the situation, person, object or the idea you are focusing on.
Should I use the application by myself or with other people present?
This is totally up to you and you may find using it together with other people very entertaining. However we recommend that you first try it by yourself, especially when exploring intimate questions…
What is the difference between 7 and 26 seconds analysis? What should I do during the 3 seconds countdown?
We found that when testing our essential emotional attitude toward people, we get the best results within the first 7 seconds. This is especially true with new users who are not used to maintaining a clear emotional focus for a long period of time. More complex scenarios, such as prolonged situations and long-term relationships may benefit from a broader spectrum of analysis. We found that 26 seconds give us the optimal results in terms of details and clarity. This may also be beneficial for more experienced users who know how to maintain a steady emotional focus and would like to get more thorough results. In any case, please make sure to use the first three seconds countdown to concentrate and establish your emotional focus on what you are testing.
Do you keep a record of what I say?
No. What you are saying is being converted into a binary file that is being analyzed “on the fly” and discarded in the process.
Why do you ask for feedback at the end of the recording?
We are constantly improving the accuracy of our technology as well as the quality of the descriptions we use for the results. Your anonymous feedback is combined with the feedback from other users to optimize the system and improve our future service to you.
How accurate are the results?
The analysis can be very accurate. Actual accuracy, however, depends on your emotional focus and the quality of your voice input. (Please see the answer to the question “How to improve the accuracy of the Emotionalysis?”). We sometimes find that although the analysis we make is very accurate, it is challenging to give a verbal description that is both simple to understand and yet complex enough to describe sophisticated emotions and attitudes. We are therefore sometimes forced to use generalized descriptions and rely on you to make the correct application for your specific situation.
Disclaimer: The feedback provided by Emotionalysis and AreYouTalking2me is for entertainment purposes only.
How does Emotionalysis work?
This website is the culmination of several scientific studies that were carried out over the better part of a decade. The emotional profiling technology was researched on over 40,000 people and the voice analysis technology was optimized on more than 6,000 test subjects. The studies were conducted by Dr. Y. Levanon and Dr. L. Lossos, combining disciplines from the areas of Neuropsychology, brain-research, Mathematics, Physics, Statistics and including cross disciplines such as “Performance Analysis”. Since this technology represents a significant part of our IP, we rather not get into the details of our methodology. In the simplest terms the underlying idea is as follows:
- When certain emotions are present, certain neurons in our brain become active. And vice versa.
- When the neurons are “active” they transmit a “pulse” in a certain pattern.
- This pattern is reflected (similar to frequency reverberation) in our bodies and it affects the sound properties of our voice.
- Knowing which neurons are associated with which emotions, and knowing the “transmission patterns” of the relevant neuron-groups, enables us to look for the right sound properties in the voice – thus accurately determine the associated emotions.
Since my voice reflects my emotions, do I sound different when I speak to different people? Is the difference noticeable?
Yes, absolutely. The feelings which you have toward different people influence how you speak and change the sound properties of your voice. And yes, the difference is always noticed by our sub- and pre-conscious. We all know that it is enough for us to hear a single “hello” on the phone to immediately sense if the person is happy, upset, welcoming, angry, friendly, relaxed, etc. We do it instantly, instinctively and intuitively. We do it every time we communicate and we cannot “shut it off”. Moreover, we instinctively attribute much higher importance to the emotions we detect than to the actual content of what is being said (one example of many is the Mehrabian study, by Dr. Albert Mehrabian). Understanding our attitudes towards the people we communicate with and our feelings for the situations we are in, is an important step in understanding how we are perceived and the impact we make.
Can I “improve myself”? Is there any way to optimize the emotional impact I make?
Yes there is. Which is why we created POWER 2 VOICE. A tool that enables you to correctly understand and optimize the emotional impact you make when you communicate, personally and professionally. POWER 2 VOICE is based on our cutting-edge voice analysis and emotional profiling technology and it incorporates many unique analysis, profiling and feedback tools that were especially developed for this purpose. POWER 2 VOICE guides you on how to best utilize the existing emotional-attitudes in your voice. This helps you sell better, make better presentations, motivate your listeners, perform better in interviews, handle confrontations better, better express yourself towards people you care about and overall achieve your goals with greater confidence. POWER 2 VOICE is currently available in a Beta version only. The full version is due in July 2008.
Can I “fake it”?
In spite of what some of us would like to think, the answers is no. The only way you can effectively change your emotional impact is by changing your emotional attitude. You cannot “fake it”. Trying to fake it adds mixed emotional signals to your voice (your genuine attitude will reverberate through whatever it is you are trying to fake) and it will add a degree of stress to your voice. Such mixed emotional signals and the added stress signals are instinctively and intuitively interpreted by our sub- and pre-conscious as warning signal. We strongly discourage you from doing that. You may get away with it only with people that suppress the warning signals they receive.
What does your technology have in common with speech recognition software / technology?
Practically nothing. We do NOT analyze what is being said. We do not look for text patterns or speech patterns. We focus exclusively on sound and voice properties. Language, content, etc. are irrelevant for our purpose.
I heard of voice analysis technology being used as a “lie detector”. How is your system different?
Our technology is “all new”. It is based on the latest discoveries and researched on 40,000 test subjects, incorporating scientific breakthroughs in Neuropsychology, brain-research, Mathematics, Statistics and Physics. The “lie detector” technology is “old technology” and was developed back in the 70’s by the military. It is based on measuring stress signals in the voice (similar to measuring heart-pulse fluctuations as a sign of stress). This is a very simplistic form of voice analysis and it has a very limited capability of indicating emotions. Since stress may have many causes (of which “Cognitive dissonance”, a.k.a. lying, is only one) we do not use our technology for “lie detection”.
What do you mean by “positive” and “negative” emotions?
Emotions such as love, respect, admiration, etc. are examples of positive emotions. In contrast, emotions such as hate, loathing, anger, etc. are considered as negative emotions.
Is the technology language sensitive? Are there any cultural effects or differences?
Not really. We do recommend that you speak in the language you are most comfortable in (i.e. the language you think and count in – typically your mother-tongue). This ensures that you can focus entirely on your emotions rather than on the accurate “translation” of your thoughts. Nevertheless, voice analysis is not language sensitive. The voice analysis technology was optimized on more than 6,000 test subjects and the emotional profiling technology was tested on 40,000 international subjects in Europe, the Americas and the Middle-East and was found accurate. The technology was not yet tested on Asian and African cultures.
Why do I sometimes get different results to the same, repeated name or words?
There could be two reasons why you would get different results:
- The Emotionalysis engine is highly sensitive. It is designed to decipher your emotional attitudes while you speak, NOT your words per se. It is what you feel that counts – not what you are saying. So, if your emotions have changed, even slightly (e.g. due to a certain memory or thoughts that came to mind) the results will change accordingly – even if you repeated the same name or the same words.
Example: You check your emotions toward a certain person by repeating this person’s name while focusing on your feelings toward this person. This generates a correct result. The next time you check your emotions toward the same person you may think of a certain experience or a memory you associate with this person. Although you repeat the name of the person as before, the results you will get in this case reflect your feelings toward this person, factored with your feelings toward the experience or the memory.
By the way, this can be a fascinating way to explore your feelings toward the people in your life. Going through the experiences you associate with them and the memories you have, you can create a complete puzzle that encompasses your relationship.
- In Quantum physics there is an effect known as the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, named after the famous German physicist Werner K. Heisenberg, whereby the process of measurement itself can sometimes affect the element that is being measured. In our case, we have noticed that some people may focus on the result they expect to get rather than on the person/situation/item. These additional thoughts about the expected results interfere with the emotions being tested. This can significantly affect the measurement outcome.
Example: You check your emotions toward a certain person by repeating this person’s name while focusing on your feelings toward this person. This generates a certain result that surprises you. You then try to check your emotions toward this person again by repeating the same process, only this time you find yourself “sneaking a thought” about the result you received before, what this result means to you, how you hope that the same result will (not) appear again, etc. All these thoughts may trigger powerful emotions that will taint the actual emotions you are trying to measure.
Therefore, it is important to relax, cleanse your thoughts and concentrate only on the person/situation/item – fully “experiencing” them. You will find that you are able to do so with greater ease, even “automatically”, as you gain experience and learn to be aware of your emotions
.