Reverse Speech – A Response to Skeptics

By Chris Yangouyian

“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”– Albert Einstein

Reverse Speech – A Response to Skeptics – As with all pioneers, David John Oates and this Theory of Reverse Speech are currently outside of the mainstream. Predictably, Oates and Reverse Speech have come under criticism, often intense, sometimes violent.

In the early 1990’s, while Oates was living in San Diego, his home was destroyed and he was the recipient of death threats. Not all opposition, however, is violent. In the foregoing, I analyse the criticism of Tom Byrne and Matthew Normand in their article published at http://www.csicop.org/si/show/demon-haunted_sentence_a_skeptical_analysis_of_reverse_speech, from The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, April 2000 (Skeptical Inquirer, Volume 24.2). In my analysis, I first outline the critique in italics, then offer my response.

“A listener expecting to hear a certain phrase will likely do so.”- When analyzing reverse speech, the analyst would not know what to expect so how could they “be likely to do so.” – In my own case, I had an awful time finding reversals; to the point that I was ready to discontinue my training. If only hearing what you expect to hear were accurate, I believe I would have had an easier time finding reversals. Further, if the author’s claim were true, I would not have been surprised when analyzing my own speech. For one of my assignments, I interviewed myself, and the reversals I found were not expected, far from it. In several instances the reversals that I found on myself were shocking and required a fair amount of introspection to make sense of.

Further along in the article the authors worry that Reverse Speech, if allowed in court testimony, could have adverse consequences. “As expert witnesses they could analyze testimony played backwards and inform a court what a witness is truly saying. The judge and jury, not having the training, will be unable to verify this information.” – While the concern is valid, it is also valid for any expert witness. The judges and juries rarely have the expertise an expert witness has. If this is true for Reverse Speech Analysts, it is true for doctors, accountants, scientist, et al, or any person that serves as an expert witness. Further, to balance the scales, if Reverse Speech analysis is presented in court, the opposition could employ their own Reverse Speech Analyst to corroborate or refute the findings of the first Analyst.

“The person trained to hear reverse messages could intentionally or unintentionally report that speech contains hidden incriminating evidence. Many people are not prepared to refute such contrived evidence.” – While fraud is possible, again, it is applicable to any specialist not just Reverse Speech Analysts. People seeking the advice of a physician are generally not equipped to refute the doctor’s findings. If a person does not believe, or trust the doctor’s findings, they are free to do with it what they will and/or get a second opinion.

“However, some simple investigations of his claims could be easily conducted. For example, subjects could listen to samples of reverse speech and report what they heard. Inter-observer agreement, the percentage of times that different subjects reported hearing the same thing, could be calculated. Such measures can be used to minimize biases that individual observers may have (Kazdin 1982). High rates of agreement would at least confirm the ability for humans to hear the same messages in the absence of specific expectations.” – Here the authors offer a useful suggestion for testing the presence of Reverse Speech. Reverse Speech Pioneer, David John Oates does this, partially, on a regular basis during his radio show appearances. In future appearances, perhaps Oates could conduct the experiment outlined above. The Jeff Rense Show may provide such a forum. Oates could play the forward dialogue and the corresponding reversal. However, instead of telling the audience what the reversal said, he could ask for listeners to call in and convey what they heard. Statistics could then be gathered as to how many callers reported hearing the same, or similar, dialogue. These results could additionally be compared to the dialogue in the original transcript. (Note: an experiment of this sort was conducted by Oates and is available in the Reverse Speech Analyst Manual. To be fair, this article was written in 2000, so perhaps the experiment was done after the article was written or the authors were unaware of it.)

“Both of these studies could be conducted with minimal cost and effort. If Oates is truly interested in the truth, he could set aside a few hundred dollars (much less than the cost of enrollment at one of his training programs) and fund an independent researcher.” – I believe the real issue the authors have with Oates, and the theory of Reverse Speech, is contained in parenthesis above; these authors seem to resent Oates making money on Reverse Speech. There appears to be more than a hint of jealousy in that this is the second time in the article that the authors comment on Oates’ profitable undertakings.

“If reverse speech enters courtrooms and therapists’ offices, lives may be seriously affected. We hope that readers can help expose this potential disaster before damage is done.” – These benevolent critics are offering their opinion for our safety. Of course, it is always for the proverbial, “our”, safety. Perhaps Reverse Speech is not ready for admissibility in court. However, polygraphs, at least in most states in the U.S., are not permissible evidence either, but still widely used in background checks and police investigations. As a means of therapy, the client is free to accept or discard the results of the session.

A starting point for Reverse Speech to gain widespread acceptance, could be that Reverse Speech analysis be used similar to the way polygraphs are used in the investigative process. Although I’m no fan of polygraphs, serial killer Kendall Francios was able to beat the polygraph test convincingly, they do have widespread use in North America. That being said, Reverse Speech analysis could be done in addition to polygraphs and statistics could be kept as to how often the two tests differed or concurred. This is not a fool proof test however, in cases where the two tests differed, it might be difficult or impossible to determine which test was accurate.

Although it is very difficult to trust or believe anything that comes from the United States government or the controlled press, Reverse Speech did receive legitimate consideration from the United States Department of Defense in 1990. At that time, Operation Desert Shield, the precursor to the first Iraq War, Operation Desert Storm, was in progress. David John Oates found interesting reversals in the forward speech of President George H.W. Bush. He subsequently wrote a letter to Defense Secretary, Dick Cheney. Word of the letter was leaked to the press and Oates was subsequently asked not to speak about his findings publicly.

While it is difficult to assess how much stock the DOD actually put into Oates’ findings, given their perpetual disinformation campaign, it is telling that they did not want Oates to discuss his work and findings publicly. This gag request from the DOD and their constant search for new and experimental technologies, to keep us safe of course, offers a hopeful glimmer of Reverse Speech’s eventual mainstream acceptation.

My Expanded Understanding of Reverse Speech

By Barb Salerno

My Expanded Understanding of Reverse Speech – “Hi, Barb,” sounded the greeting from my telephone answering machine tape. Not quite sure that I really heard it, I played it again in disbelief. It was unmistakable – and thrilling. Not because I had gotten a phone message from a dear friend, but because I had played the message backwards and gotten the same message in reverse as in forward. It was the first clear speech reversal I had ever heard, in spite of many, many frustrating attempts up to that time.

It was July 2004. I had just heard about Reverse Speech while researching a famous crime on the internet. I instantly trusted it to be a real and valid phenomenon of human speech. I bought David Oates’ book and cassette tape set and a Sony cassette reversing machine, and set out in search of speech reversals. After many weeks of slogging through pure gibberish with lots of headaches and no results, “Hi, Barb” revealed itself to a joyful ear.

It was not just a phone message or even a celebratory first reversal. “Hi, Barb” was an invitation from the unconscious universe to explore the mystery of Reverse Speech in depth.

Back then, searching for speech reversals was like going on an Easter egg hunt in search of goodies. Each time I found one brought a squeal of excitement – I got it! But most of my recordings came from television programs, which were terrible to listen to because of poor sound reproduction and background noise. RS Pro 4.0, a wonderful tool, did not exist. I didn’t know then that media reversals could be few and far between, and frustration mounted when I just didn’t hear anything in the media that I was recording. In time, my little Sony recorder broke, and Reverse Speech took a back seat to other interests.

Fast forward to 2016. I signed up for my first Reverse Speech class and began putting in serious hours listening to everyone and everything on Youtube. But changes were in store during the first few months of class. Locating reversals took on a more serious tone – no longer just a treasure hunt in search of goodies. Searching for reversals became a serious investigation. After all, it was allowing me an unprecedented glimpse into the inner workings of someone’s mind – a peek at the soul.

And that was a sobering realization. Most friends would not allow me to read their diaries, yet, with their permission, I could actually gain access to their innermost thoughts, memories, and fears. With that knowledge came a new sense of responsibility and respect for Reverse Speech and the benefits it can provide. It is still as exciting as a treasure hunt, but I am now respectful of its power and the possibilities that it offers in the way of helping others to achieve wholeness.
Reverse Speech is the language of the unconscious, and as with all languages, knowledge comes in layers. First we learn the words, then we build a vocabulary; we learn the verbs and tenses, then the idiomatic expressions. Reverse Speech has its own vocabulary and idioms, which are the metaphors, imagery and symbols which populate the unconscious mind. It is a richly textured, complex study of the human psyche at work, expressing itself in words.

I was not aware of the levels of complexity of Reverse Speech until my recent studies. Now I understand that it reflects five areas within the realm of the human mind:

• 1) conscious, revealing our everyday waking awareness
• 2) subconscious, which connects to bodily functions, stored memories
• 3) unconscious, where behavioral patterns, personality constructs and feelings beneath our conscious awareness reside
• 4) collective unconscious, concerning knowledge of the general culture to which we belong, and matters which we perceive beyond our ordinary awareness, and the
• 5) spirit, part of a greater being or universal intelligence, as divine guidance.

There are also other dimensions to Reverse Speech of which I am only recently aware. It’s fascinating to realize that my simple initiation reversal, Hi, Barb (I know now to bold the text!) was a very special reversal indeed, with these qualities:

It ranked VF5. VF stands for Validity Factor, a ranking system that categorizes reversals by their clarity and precision of sound. A VF5 is the highest ranking a reversal can receive, and is the most desirable type of reversal to present to others, so that they stand the best chance of hearing and recognizing the words spoken.

Validity Factors are based on Check Points, which further classify the reversal in terms of clarity. Check Points were created to facilitate the search for reversals. Suspected reversals should be subjected to a test of the first three checkpoints: is the syllable count correct, are the vowel and consonant sounds clear and precise, are the beginnings and endings of words clearly distinguishable?

Once the reversal meets these tests of precision, one should then check if the spacing is sufficient between the words, if the phrase is distinct from surrounding gibberish, if the phrase has a melodious tone throughout, and if the phrase has a definite beat or tempo. These are Check Points four through seven.

If a reversal meets all of these seven criteria, it ranks a VF5; if it is imprecise in any one of these points, it ranks a VF4, if two, a VF3, and so on. I have learned not to bother documenting anything less than a VF3 reversal, missing only two of the above criteria, as it will be too indistinct. Presenting sounds which too closely resemble gibberish can raise undue suspicions in others, such a clients or skeptics, and can do a disservice to Reverse Speech, so I aim to work with VF3’s at the very worst, if I feel they are useful.

Hi, Barb was clearly enunciated, each consonant and vowel was sharp, there was spacing between the words, which were clearly distinguishable, and it had a melodic, even singsong tone and beat. Perfect VF5 for my first reversal, which I’m sure helped me hear it in the first place!

After the Validity Factors and Checkpoints, we progress to the next layer of Reverse Speech – the category and structure, which is much like learning the sentence structure of a new language. Hi, Barb fulfilled a couple of the categories of Reverse Speech: it was Congruent, because it matched the forward message of my friend greeting me. It also belonged to the External Dialogue category, because my friend’s reversal was addressing an outside person – me.

The other categories of reversals are: Incongruent, Expansive, Internal Dialogue, Internal Command, Trail and Lead, Future Tense, Premonitions or Comparative. Had my friend contradicted her friendly greeting in some way, it would have been Incongruent. Had she added information to her greeting, it would have been Expansive. Had she spoken to herself inwardly, it would have been Internal Dialogue; had she given herself a command it would have been Internal Command. A Trail and Lead would have required more words, as the reversal flows into a topic which follows, or it elaborates a topic already mentioned in forward speech. A Future Tense would have predicted a future action that she would fulfill, and a Premonition would have intuited some action to follow. Finally, a Comparative Reversal would have seemed unrelated to the forward words but would have portrayed a similar emotion.

So far, Hi, Barb has a Validity Factor of 5 and can be placed in the Congruent and External Dialogue categories. Now we come to another layer of the language of reversals, which is Structure. And it is a very special reversal, because by virtue of its structure it is a Mirror-Image reversal, which is not as common as some of the other structures. The Mirror-Image reversal contains the identical words found in the message – my friend was saying “Hi, Barb!” in her forward speech.
It could also have been a Normal structure, because Normal reversals consist of a few words, as most reversals do. Had her greeting contained eight words or more, it would have been a Long Sentence, had it just been one very clear but unusual word it could have been a Single Word reversal. If the ending word of the reversal got lost into gibberish it would have been Semi-Formed, had she begun a statement and then elaborated on it it would have been a Cause and Effect reversal, had we both been talking with one completing the other’s sentence it would have been a Sentence Building reversal. The rarest reversal of all would have been if we had been talking and our combined reversals formed one sentence in reverse, a Link Reversal. But since I was not conversing with her, the Sentence Building and Link Reversal options were off the table.

I had been rewinding my answering machine tape when I found this reversal. Now, of course, I am aware that all people that I record and analyze must first sign the permission work/session release form, which I then submit to Reverse Speech Pty. Ltd. Having had a thirty-year career as a trademark paralegal, I respect the intellectual property rights of others!
Aside from the learning at the experiential level, my early exposure to Reverse Speech has been rewarding in unexpected ways. I have become more interested in other subtle forms of communication like body language, in which we can read into an individual’s state of mind. I have obtained reversals of people while also analyzing their body language, and find that these two forms of communication strongly complement each other.

This offers further proof that, as David Oates is fond of saying, the human mind is hard-wired to tell the truth. And it will do so in whichever way it can express it to the outside world – through body language, Reverse Speech, or other extraordinary forms of communication. My expanded awareness of Reverse Speech has developed a curiosity in other ways of peering into human consciousness, even Remote Viewing, which I have followed since the early days of Hi, Barb some twelve and a half years ago.

In fact, had I not signed up for Reverse Speech this past autumn, I would have signed up for Controlled Remote Viewing training, but I’m delighted that I chose Reverse Speech at this time. I would love to see how these disciplines complement each other at some future point. My expanded awareness of Reverse Speech involves not only Reverse Speech, but all studies related to the workings of the human psyche. The journey has no limits.

In terms of personal awareness, I have noticed that I can sense the presence of a reversal when someone is speaking, and I can also feel when I am producing reversals while speaking. I have always been a very intuitive person, yet my intuition is sharpening even more. I have felt more grounded and more inwardly secure as a person, more solid in the world, and I haven’t even done any session work yet! I work with Reverse Speech around 18-20 hours a week, and this constant exposure to the realm of consciousness in others seems to have deepened my own personal anchoring and sense of self.

And it has given me a sense of destiny too. Thus far in my training I have found a number of reversals which have provoked a strong inner response and which have resonated with me on an intuitive level. One such reversal occurred In December 2016, just months ago. I had recorded a friend’s conversation for a class assignment, and at the end of the tape I congratulated her on a job well done.

“Really?” she asked, to which I responded enthusiastically, “Really!” In reverse she was saying, Heal you. To my amazement, my reversal clearly spoke, I’ll serve you! At that time I was just becoming aware that Reverse Speech offered many possibilities for future endeavors. Like Hi, Barb, this reversal just might be setting me on a course of serving others through Reverse Speech. At this time I have many ideas on how I may do this, with many more ideas still forming as time and experience go on.

The idea of utilizing Reverse Speech to pinpoint problem behavioral tendencies in troubled and abused children is very appealing to me. After all my training is completed I plan to reach out to a few therapists who counsel victims of abuse and introduce them to the healing capabilities of Reverse Speech.

Beyond the structure and format of this phenomenal language there are still levels and layers to explore. Reverse Speech has its own set of metaphors and imagery that we will discover in the Analyst section of training. These facets of Reverse Speech are further evidence that it is a complex language operating at various levels of consciousness, from the individual to the collective consciousness, and beyond that, the spirit of humanity.

I majored in languages in college, and also attended graduate school in Italian language and literature. From all those years of study I came to understand that there is a critical point in learning a language, where one crosses the threshhold from being a mere translator of words, to becoming an interpreter of concepts, an artist of the language. I have recently become a translator of Reverse Speech, and now look forward to becoming an interpreter of the metaphors and imagery that enriches this mystical language of the unconscious mind. Then, I will hope to learn about Metawalks and how to devise them as well, in the Practitioner phase of the training.

I imagine that when I cross that threshold, I may just hear that special welcome again, Hi, Barb! To which I will reply, I’ll serve you.