Be careful when you’re on the phone, because a software, called Jerk-O-Meter, is currently under development by Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This program is able to rate your attention or any other person you call, so you know whether they really paying attention to your call or not.

Jerk-O-Meter works by analyzing speech patterns and voice tones of the person using several mathematical algorithm, and then measure levels of stress and emphaty in a person’s voice. It also keeps track of how often someone is speaking. At the end of the conversation, a number, on a scale of 0 to 100 percent, will show up on the cell phone monitor. The higher the percentage, the more engaged the person in the conversation with you.

More detail article on BusinessWeek Online.

By the way, almost similar program, called Agile Lie Detector, has been around for a while. It measures the amount of stress caused by lying in a person’s voice and displays this information in a graph in real-time. This software is developed by Agile Mobile.