NEC Corporation announced the development of a new biometric personal identification technology that uses the resonation of sound determined by the shape of human ear cavities to distinguish individuals.
The new technology instantaneously measures within approximately one second acoustic characteristics determined by the shape of the ear, which is unique for each person, using an earphone with a built-in microphone to collect earphone-generated sounds as they resonate within ear cavities. This unique method for extracting features is useful for distinguishing individuals based on acoustic characteristics and enables rapid and highly accurate recognition greater than 99% accuracy.
“Since the new technology does not require particular actions such as scanning a part of the body over an authentication device, it enables a natural way of conducting continuous authentication, even during movement and while performing work, simply by wearing an earphone with a built-in microphone to listen to the sounds within ears,” said Shigeki Yamagata, general manager, Information and Media Processing Laboratories, NEC Corporation.
NEC plans to commercialize the technology within FY2018 in a wide range of applications, including the prevention of identity fraud in operations related to safety and security, such as in maintenance, management, and security of critical infrastructure, in ensuring confidentiality of wireless communications and telephone calls, and in voice guidance services designed for particular individuals or particular scenarios.