Fingerprint technology made quite an impact (pardon the pun) in the growing world of tech security, but things are about to get even weirder. Having trouble remembering your password? Don’t worry, your skull can help.
New technology sends sound waves to unlock eyewear computers
Scientists in Germany have now developed a new method of combatting our brain’s resistance to memorizing the slew of passwords necessary to keep your devices private. The answer – to collect the unique sounds inside of users’ skulls, of course!
The team of researchers, hailing from the University of Stuttgart, the University of Saarland, and the Max Planck Institute for Informatics in Germany, has developed enhanced security technology for the increasing number of eyewear computer wearers.
SkullConduct works as alternative to password on devices like Google Glass
“SkullConduct” (/k?n?d?kt/) is a biometric system that taps into the bone conduction speaker and microphone technology already provided by devices like Google Glass. The handsfree device works by analyzing the frequency response from a ultrasonic hum sent through the user’s skull.
To put it simply, the technology sends sounds into the user’s skull and then reacts to the unique sounds that ping back. Whenever the user is ready to access the device, SkullConduct repeats this process to identify them.
Small sample yields impressive results
The initial experiment included a mere ten participants, but SkullConduct is confident in its product after receiving identification accuracy of 97 percent during the testing phase. The results seem to prove to be “person specific and stable – even when removing and replacing the device multiple times,” according to researchers.
Google Glass has failed to reach the popularity it was once seeking, but as time and improvements continue, sales have grown steadily. With new technology such as this one, eyewear computers could finally become the craze they were hoping for, especially outside of the tech-based community.
If not, perhaps someday the technology will crossover to handheld devices, where simply raising the phone to your ear could unlock it. How would you feel about your phone to finding the password literally rattling around in your head?
