Voice Biometrics for Information Assurance Applications

Abstract

Standard Form 298 (Rev. 8-98)Prescribed by ANSI Std. Z39.18Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing this collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) SPONSOR / MONITOR'S ACRONYM(S) 9. SPONSORING / MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) SPONSOR / MONITOR'S REPORT NUMBER(S)In 2000, the President of the United States established an organization within the DoD to develop and promulgate biometrics technologies to achieve security in information, information systems, weapons, and facilities. NRL has been tasked to study voice biometrics for applications in which other biometrics techniques are difficult to apply. The ultimate goal of voice biometrics is to enable the use of voice as a password.Voice biometrics are "man-in-the-loop" systems in which system performance is significantly dependent on human performance. This aspect has not been properly emphasized by previous researchers in this field. Accordingly, we let each speaker choose his (or her) own test phrase that can be uttered consistently. The speech waveform is then pre-processed (i.e., equalized and normalized) to reduce the effect of inconsistent speaking. Subsequently, we extract five different voice features from the speech waveform. Some of them have never been used for voice biometrics. Finally, individual feature errors are combined to indicate a confidence level of speaker verification.Initial laboratory testing under various conditions shows encouraging results. We will be prepared to fleet-test our voice biometrics system in FY03. UnclassifiedUnclassified Unclassified VOICE BIOMETRICS FOR INFORMATION ASSURANCE APPLICATIONS INTRODUCTIONThe Department of Defense (DoD) has a critical need to ensure security and integrity in all its information and information systems, weapons, and facilities. To meet this need, DoD is exploiting biometrics technology that uses measurable physical characteristics of an individual for identification or verification. LTG Peter Cuviello, Director of the DoD Biometrics Management Office (BMO), envisions that, "on the battlefield of the future, a soldier's voice will be his password."In support of DoD biometrics efforts, we at NRL are focusing on voice biometrics for applications where other biometrics techniques are difficult to apply. An example of voice biometrics is remote speaker verification over computer or communication links in which the user and the information source are not collocated. Another example is when the speaker wears a gas mask and gloves in a nuclear-biologicalchemical ...