Voice Authentication and Voice ID

Voice Authentication

What is Voice Authentication?

Voice biometric authentication uses vocal information for a user to gain access to digital accounts securely. It relies on the user’s vocal patterns to identify them and provide access. To use this type of authentication, users must have a recording device capable of precisely capturing their voice along with voice identification software that recognizes speech and novel patterns compared to those already recognized. This type of security authentication is also known as voice ID, voice identification, or voice biometrics.

Voice identification is sometimes confused with voice recognition, but the two differ. While voice identification confirms a voice belongs to a specific individual, voice recognition or speech recognition instead recognizes the words the person speaks. Authentication of a person’s voice relies on their biometrics, which are numerical representations of the rhythms and sounds of their voice. These patterns are just as unique as a person’s fingerprints.

Voice identification software can tell the difference between a user’s true voice and an impersonation even though they might sound similar to listeners. This is because a person’s voice biometrics are unique and vary in speaking style, format frequencies, pitch, dialect, and more. Voice biometrics make it very difficult for someone to successfully mimic another’s voice to gain access to a secure system. Even recorded voices differ from speech because of distortions from a microphone. This means that a recorded sample of the authorized user’s voice would not be enough to gain access to a system.

How Does Authentication of a Voice Work?

Speech is produced by using the muscles of the face, tongue, lips, and mouth to form words and relies on the larynx and lung respiration. The motor cortex controls the complex interplay by sending signals to the various muscle groups to tell them how to move to produce speech. These various parts are unique to an individual and contribute to how they speak and their vocal quality. Voice biometrics rely on the fact that the characteristics of a person’s voice correlate to how they create speech physiologically. Authentication of an individual with their voice doesn’t rely on saying a specific passphrase but instead measures the person’s voiceprint comprised of the vocal characteristics distinguishing their voice from others.

When a user initially enrolls, a template will be created for their voice. This will involve merging several samples of their voice to create templates for greater accuracy. When verifying an individual’s voice ID, the system will capture a new sample and compare it against the user’s initial template. If there is a strong match, the user’s voice will be authenticated, and access will be granted.

Who Uses Authentication by Voice?

Contact centers might use voice identification tools by requiring the caller to state a phrase or say anything. The center then uses voice biometrics to analyze the caller’s vocal properties and provide a high degree of security.

The following are some examples of who might use a voice identification service:

• Companies completing transactions over the internet or by telephone
• User gaining remote access to networks or websites
• Banking systems using interactive voice response (IVR)
• Health systems using IVR
• Providing audio signatures for a digital document
• Emergency services
• Online education providers

Why Do Companies Use Authentication?

Companies use voice biometric authentication as a convenient and accurate method for customers to access accounts. Banks and healthcare organizations are increasingly adopting this practice to add a layer of security for consumers and patients and confirm the person is the accountholder before granting access.

Voice Market Size

The voice recognition market size was $10 billion in 2021, but it is anticipated to grow to nearly $50 billion by 2029. This is a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.7%. By 2026, the global market for voice authentication services is expected to reach $20.6 billion as more industries increasingly add this type of security.

Standards for Voice Identity Authentication

The FIDO Alliance has released a universal authorization framework (FIDO UAF) for all types of authentication, including voice. It supports passwordless authentication and is an open standard. Users use security factors on their devices to release a private key. They then use the private key to answer a challenge issued by the server. The mechanism on the device can be biometric, possession-based, or knowledge-based to unlock the private key.

The user uses the private key on the device to sign different types of transaction data so they can’t be tampered with if intercepted. Organizations use the FIDO UAF standard for voice authentication to enhance security and improve user experience.

Voice Authentication Pros and Cons

Voice is best used as one component of multi-factor authentication. This is because voice ID is hackable, not reliable by itself, and should only be used as part of a multi-layered security protocol. For example, the user might also be required to use a password, answer knowledge-based questions, and provide voice authentication before access is authenticated.

Pros

• More secure – Other authentication methods are vulnerable to theft, including passwords and user logins. It’s much more difficult to steal someone’s voiceprint.
• Convenient – Voice identification enables a streamlined, fast user experience
• Contactless – Users do not have to touch anything to complete voice ID.
• Supported- Voice works on a broad variety of devices.
• Ease of deployment – Voice is an easy authentication method to deploy and configure.
• Low cost – Voice is an affordable authentication option.
• Better accuracy – An individual’s voiceprint is unique and similar to a fingerprint.

Cons

• Voice is not 100% accurate or secure.
• Voice can’t be used alone and should be implemented as a part of a larger multifactor authentication system.

Voice Identification

What Is Voice Identification (Voice ID)?

Voice ID is a biometric system that relies on the user’s voice. The user provides consent, and their voice is then used to authenticate their account when they try to access it or call the company. Voice identification might use a specific passphrase to authenticate the individual, or it might be used in the background while the caller is speaking with an agent to identify the voice and authenticate the caller.

How Does Voice ID Work?

Contact centers might use voice identification in the background to analyze the characteristics of the speaker’s voice to identify them while speaking passively, they might be prompted to speak a specific phrase in a text-based voice identity authentication system upon initially calling in, or they might be asked to say anything in a system that isn’t based on text.

The system uses voice biometric liveness detection to ensure the voice data provided during authentication is real instead of a recording or a synthetic copy. It does this by detecting background noise, assessing the slight variations people produce in their voice naturally, performing spectral analysis, and using deep learning techniques.

The voice software then analyzes the sample provided by the user and compares it to the template before the person can be authenticated. The person’s voice identity is the factor they possess to authenticate them.

Who Uses It, and How?

This form of identification is used by banks, credit unions, healthcare organizations, and others to confirm an account holder’s voice identity and authenticate them as an authorized user. Contact call centers typically use it to verify the caller’s voice when they call in by either requiring them to speak a specific phrase upon calling or using voice identification software passively in the background to verify them while they speak to a representative.

Voice Verification

What is Voice Verification?

Voice verification is a passwordless service used to verify a user’s identity by comparing their voice with a stored voiceprint. Instead of using a password to sign in, the user’s voice is used to verify who they are when they call in. It is an innovative biometric authentication method that analyzes the user’s vocal characteristics to verify who they are. Various features are assessed, including tone, pitch, pronunciation, and others to confirm whether the speaker is who they claim to be.

How Does Verification Work?

Companies that use verification by voice have users set it up by calling in and speaking a specific phrase. This sample is used to create a template by combining it with several samples for greater accuracy. The template or voiceprint is then used as a comparison whenever the accountholder calls in as they speak to a representative. Their vocal characteristics are analyzed and compared to the voiceprint to determine whether the speaker is the person before verifying their identity.

Once verification is set up, the account holder can call in and gain access to their accounts by voice instead of using a password. In this type of system, the user’s voice is their password instead of typing in or providing a combination of letters, numbers, or other characters.

Who Uses It?

Banks and healthcare facilities are increasingly adopting verification by voice to enhance security. For example, Wells Fargo has a voice verification service users can set up to easily access their accounts without providing a password. Similarly, BMO also uses voice verification for account holders by creating a voiceprint comprised of more than 100 vocal characteristics of the user’s voice.

What Is Verification Used For?

Verification is used to enhance the security of user’s accounts by reducing the risk of theft. While passwords and usernames can be stolen, a voice is much more difficult to steal. Using verification of a user’s voice also allows companies to provide a faster, smoother login process for their customers, which can improve the customer’s experience.

Voice Logins and Passwords

What Is Voice Login?

This type of login method uses the person’s voice to authenticate them and allow them access to their accounts. Instead of keying in a password, the user’s voice is analyzed and compared to a voice print. Typically, the person will be asked to state a simple phrase, and it will be analyzed by the software. The software will compare its vocal characteristics to those contained in the voiceprint. A voice password is considered more secure than traditional passwords because it is more difficult for people to steal a voice.

How Does it Work?

When an account holder calls in or goes to a login screen, they will be asked to make a simple statement such as “My voice is my password”. At the time they set it up, a voiceprint will have been created by the software. The person’s voice while speaking the phrase will be analyzed and compared to the voiceprint. The system will then determine whether the speaker is authentic and is the person to whom the account belongs before granting access.

This type of system is smoother and faster for consumers and allows them to enjoy a seamless sign-in experience. Users do not have to worry about changing passwords every few months. Logging in by voice also eliminates the need for people to remember multiple passwords for different sites since their vocal patterns are used as their passwords instead of what they type or input.

Who Uses Voice Login, and How?

Banks have increasingly implemented login systems that allow individuals to access their accounts with their voice password rather than a traditional password when calling in. When used over the internet, the voice password is typically used as one part of a multi-factor authentication process along with other factors, including answering knowledge questions or entering a verification code sent to the person’s mobile device or email.

Is Voice Login Secure?

While logging in with a voice password is more secure than using a traditional password and username combination, it is not 100% accurate. Different factors can influence a person’s voice and characteristics, including illnesses or environmental factors.

There is also an increasing concern about artificial intelligence (AI) and the use of voice for authentication purposes. AI voice cloning tools are becoming increasingly sophisticated, leading to the potential for hacking and misuse. As generative AI voice cloning becomes more sophisticated, companies must adopt countermeasures to prevent hacking. Some examples include step-up security measures such as liveness detection that detects whether a voice is real or synthetic, device fingerprinting, and multifactor phishing-resistant authentication.

Voice Authentication by Industry

Industries with enhanced security needs have increasingly implemented voice biometrics into their authentication processes. Some of these industries include the following:

• Banks and credit unions – Banks and credit unions of every size are increasingly leveraging voice identification software to confirm account holders’ identities and authorization to access account information. It is also used by banks and credit unions for mobile banking by requiring account holders to provide voice logins from their mobile devices to gain access to their accounts.
• Call centers – Call centers that handle incoming calls from customers might use passive voice identification services to analyze the caller’s voice and authenticate them as they speak. This helps protect the confidentiality of their account holders’ sensitive personal information and reduces the risk of identity theft.
• Financial services and Fintech – Financial services and fintech likewise use voice to authenticate customers when they access their accounts. They typically use it as part of a multi-factor authentication system to increase security.
• Healthcare – Healthcare organizations might use voice as an authentication method when patients use telemedicine services or want to access their health record information online. Requiring a voice password instead of a traditional password is more secure and helps to protect the patient’s sensitive personal identifying information (PII) and health records. It also helps organizations to comply with stringent privacy regulations, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and others.

How to Choose a Provider

When searching for a voice identification service provider, it’s important to consider the solutions they provide, their use cases, and the industries they serve. The provider should offer patented, cutting-edge authentication and identification tools that prevent phishing, stave off hacking, and provide enhanced security.

About AuthID

AuthID is an award-winning security company that provides patented, innovative biometric authentication and identification services for secure workflows in B2B, B2C, and B2E environments. Its products include Verified Workforce and Verified Consumer to provide phishing-proof authentication solutions for companies to use with both their internal employees and customers. These solutions provide multiple capabilities, including strong passwordless authentication, biometric authentication, and identity verification to keep organizations and their customers secure.

AuthID is used within the fintech, financial services, and healthcare industries and can be used to combat fraud and identity theft. Companies use solutions provided by AuthID for passwordless authentication, chat user authentication, onboarding, workforce authentication, wire transfer authentication, and more. Many organizations across industries are among AuthID’s clients, including call centers and others.

AuthID’s authentication and identification solutions are patented, state-of-the-art tools that prevent phishing, combat hacking, and minimize data intrusions. To learn more about the biometric solutions, voice identification tools, and voice identification services we provide and to receive a free quote, contact AuthID today.