Our Skull is new Biometric Identifier

                Researchers have developed a new Google Glass-based biometric system which uses the skull to provide access to devices. People use laptops and smartphones to save and organize their entire life – protected only by a password or a PIN. However, these are often not secure, because users do not choose or store them well. With so-called biometric identifiers such as fingerprints, voice or iris scans, users can be identified more easily and securely.

                The new system called ‘Skull-Conduct’, developed by scientists from University of Saarland and University of Stuttgart in Germany, uses the skull to provide a digital access code. In the future, this method could also secure smartphones. Eyewear computers such as Google Glass are already being used in companies and universities, for helping with physics experiments and in chemistry labs, documenting medical examinations and assisting pediatricians during operations.

                Not only may the users have no hands free to enter a password, they often share a Google Glass among each other and save sensitive data in the device. The researchers used components Google Glass already has. Besides the miniature microphone, they use the so-called bone conduction speaker, embedded in the frame near the right ear. Using bone conduction, it transmits sounds to the ear the same way as special hearing aids do. Because the skull is individual, the sound signal is changed in a way which is unique for every person. Hence, we can use it as a biometric identifier. The new method showed an accuracy of 97%, with tests being conducted in a room with no background noise.