Good vibrations: wearables add security to voice activated devices

Voice activated systems in mobile devices, homes and vehicles are becoming more widespread but sound is an open-channel and such systems can be breached by third parties via mediocre impersonators and sophisticated hackers alike.

To counter this, engineers at the University of Michigan have developed voice verification technology that can be embedded in a necklace, ear buds or eyeglasses.

"Increasingly, voice is being used as a security feature but it actually has huge holes in it," said Kang Shin, the Kevin and Nancy O'Connor Professor of Computer Science and professor of electrical engineering and computer science at U-M. "If a system is using only your voice signature, it can be very dangerous. We believe you have to have a second channel to authenticate the owner of the voice."

The solution that Shin and colleagues developed is called VAuth, which is said to continuously register speech-induced vibrations on the user's body and pair them with the sound of that person's voice to create a unique and secure signature.