'Now unlock your smartphone using biometric earbuds'

Move over passcodes and fingerprint scanners as researchers have developed wireless biometric earbuds that can unlock your smartphone based on unique geometry of your ear canals. researchers, led by computer scientist Zhanpeng Jin from University of Buffalo in US, built proto of tool called EarEcho with a pair of earphones and a tiny microphone. EarEcho's design was described in journal Proceedings of ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Techlogies, and device proved to be roughly 95 per cent effective. y developed acoustic signal processing techniques to limit ise interference, and models to share information between EarEcho's components. device aunticates users based on unique sound signature that is recorded by its earphone when a sound played into ear propagates, gets reflected and absorbed by ear canal.

Pictures: Apple's augmented reality (AR) goggles could be in works

"It doesn't matter what sound is, everyone's ears are different and we can show that in audio recording," said Jin.

Mumbai-Pune super-fast transport techlogy to create 18 lakh new jobs

He ded that uniqueness of each person's ear canal, capitalised by device, can le to a new way of confirming user identity, in a way similar to fingerprinting. user's smartphone receives sound signature from EarEcho via Bluetooth, study ted. new invention was tested in 20 subjects who listened to audio samples in different environments such as street, in a shopping mall, etc, and with participants in different positions. researchers said that using EarEcho could minimise need for passcodes, fingerprints, facial recognition, and or biometrics. According to Jin, device's greatest potential is in continuously monitoring smartphone users since it is a passive system, unlike active methods such as submitting a fingerprint or using a voice command.

Xiaomi Mi Band 4 with 20-day battery life launched for Rs 2,299

"Just by wearing earphones, which many people alrey do, you wouldn't have to do anything to unlock your phone," Jin said.

Apple Arce game streaming service goes live, how to sign up w