Person authentication by voice: a need for caution

Because of recent events and as members of the scientific community working in the field of speech processing, we feel compelled to publicize our views concerning the possibility of identifying or authenticating a person from his or her voice. The need for a clear and common message was indeed shown by the diversity of information that has been circulating on this matter in the media and general public over the past year. In a press release initiated by the AFCP and further elaborated in collaboration with the SpLC ISCA-SIG, the two groups herein discuss and present a summary of the current state of scientific knowledge and technological development in the field of speaker recognition, in accessible wording for nonspecialists. Our main conclusion is that, despite the existence of technological solutions to some constrained applications, at the present time, there is no scientific process that enables one to uniquely characterize a person’s voice or to identify with absolute certainty an individual from his or her voice.

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