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Your voice to replace PIN, fingerprint and iris scanning

Last year Apple made fingerprint scanners popular, with the likes of HTC sticking their own versions on recent releases. This year, however, it looks like voice could be the next big thing, with your dulcet tones unlocking your smartphone and keeping nasty criminal types from pinching your data.

You might not have heard of Audience before, but the audio expert has been around for over a decade and is leading the way when it comes to voice processing.

We all know the “OK, Google” voice schtick from the Motorola Moto X and we loved the way the software adapted to your voice so your commands become more accurately interpreted over time.  

Well, Audience has gone one better than that. We’ll be seeing its voice tech in some of 2014’s biggest phones and mobile devices.

Voice recognition to replace PIN and fingerprint security
You’re The Voice: Audience’s voice tech will kick speech recognition up a few octaves

Audience’s speech recognition technology can learn your voice patterns, just like the Moto X, but it can also pick up your commands even in loud environments.

It’s always on, just like Google’s voice tech, but it uses even less power to drain your battery at a slower rate. Even better, you can set your own wake-up command – no more feeling stupid by saying “OK, Google” in public. There’s no need to pause while your phone wakes up before issuing a command – you can rattle off the wake-up words and commands all at once.

Audience’s new chipsets, the es700 series, can be programmed with up to five different wake-up keywords, much like Apple’s iPhone 5s accepting up to five different fingerprints. The potential is that up to five different people can use the same mobile device, with their own individual voices unlocking their private accounts.

Audience vice president Bart DeCanne reckons we could see voices replacing PIN codes and other security measures by the end of the year. Seeing as Audience’s new tech will be featuring in phones announced as early as this week at MWC 2014, it’s a safe bet. 

What do you think – could voice recognition replace PIN, fingerprints and iris scanning? Let us know in the comments below. 

Image credit: LIGHTPLAY

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