Voice biometric system based on artificial intelligence for access control

The Challenge

Natural Vox is a company dedicated to the management and development of language and speech processing technologies and is specialized in the development of automatic conversational systems, as well as in the analysis and interpretation of spoken language and its transcription. The company collaborates closely with Vicomtech since 2014 in the framework of various research projects.

In its continuous improvement strategy, Natural Vox identified and conveyed to Vicomtech the need to authenticate people who access a service, for example, by telephone. These services usually have an identification system through a code and a password, but this does not guarantee the correct identification of the user who may have been impersonated.

Sectors such as banking, insurance, health sector, emergencies, industry, personalized leisure, and a long etcetera need to increase their security processes when identifying their users. Often a code and password are not enough and the biometric voice print should be an alternative to fingerprint, facial or iris biometrics.

The Proposed Solution

Through research and application of the most advanced artificial intelligence technologies in the field of speech and natural language processing, we have developed a biometric voice solution that integrates the following functionalities:

1- Registration or enrolment system: the solution incorporates a registration process for each user in the system that automatically generates a biometric fingerprint with its unique voice characteristics.

2- Verification and identification system: the solution integrates two modules of verification (1: 1) and identification (1: N). In the first case, it is certified that the user is the person who claims to be and in the second case, a new incoming user is identified by comparing his voice sample with the biometric fingerprints registered in the system.

3- Verification in a multilocutor environment: the solution includes speaker diarization technology that allows the segmentation of a multilocutor incoming signal and to perform verification and identification processes on any of these segmented speakers.

4- Speed: one of the main characteristics of the developed solution is the speed of the verification and identification process. Verification is done in less than a second after the required samples have been collected (optimally, a minimum of 10 seconds).

5- Updating of biometric models: each person included in the system registers the voice in advance to create the voice print. The solution includes the possibility of continuing to enrich and strengthen this footprint with new samples acquired in subsequent calls in which this person has been correctly identified.

6- Integration capacity: the solution exposes an API that allows it to be integrated in call centers, but also in any service that requires voice biometrics

The Result

The technology module developed by Vicomtech provides Natural Vox with a differentiating element and at the same time allows it to diversify in its products and access new sectors such as industrial and computer security.

Voice biometrics is applied, among others, to user identification systems to provide access to different environments.

Thanks to the results obtained in collaboration with Vicomtech, the company is working to incorporate and integrate this technology in access control systems and to evolve the existing developments to date.

There will be an API that allows, on the one hand, to manage the creation of the voice print of each user and its storage, and on the other, to integrate the authentication module in the access process.

The solution has already entered the prototype phase and will be available on the market soon.