Use of Hand Biometric Information in Gender Identification

These days, mobile devices are expected to act as biometric readers due to their increasing number of sensors. However, few studies have suggested a method to identify the user’s demographic profile by collecting biometric information through smart devices, whereas demographic characteristics are an important factor that determines the overall preferences of the interface and content. Therefore, this paper suggests a method to identify the user’s gender based on the biometric information of users. Since the hand is one of the most frequently used body parts in touch interfaces, four hand dimensions and the EMG activities of four hand muscles were measured. The hand length, hand breadth, hand thickness, and hand circumference of 321 Koreans were collected as hand dimensions, and the EMG activities of 27 participants when using mock-ups of mobile phones were observed. As a result of discriminant analysis, hand dimensions could predict males and females with over 75% accuracy, while %MVC showed relatively lower accuracy. The results revealed that simple hand dimensions are a more efficient method to recognize the gender of users. In a further study, other biometric data could be utilized in sensing various types of demographic information considering that identification technologies are growing fast.