Breathing patterns spoil another perfectly good disguise
Breathing patterns can identify people with nearly 97% accuracy, which gives privacy campaigners a fresh reason to eye their own nostrils with suspicion. The safest disguise now involves breathing like somebody else, which has always looked difficult on a bus.
Researchers monitored airflow beneath the noses of 97 volunteers. An algorithm spotted each person from the results. It did this without a password, a postcode or the name of their first reusable shopping bag.
Your lungs remember the embarrassing details
The study also found links between breathing patterns and physical or mental traits. Consequently, every long office sigh may soon reveal fatigue, stress and a detailed opinion of the person sharing their screen.
“I have breathed anonymously for years,” said Dr Humphrey Wheezlebottom of the Institute for Keeping Things to Yourself. “Now a machine knows I am late before I have even inhaled an excuse.”
The Bureau of Personal Air has responded with a new identity check. Customers must inhale twice, cough their memorable word and confirm that the noise from their nose matches the one on file.
Police line up six people near a staircase
Officials have not announced any breath line ups. Yet the idea already enjoys tremendous popularity among people who enjoy standing behind glass while strangers encounter a flight of stairs.
Meanwhile, one volunteer tried to beat the system by holding his breath. The computer identified him as Kevin, being dramatic again. It then asked whether Kevin needed a lie down.
The findings may help research into health and behaviour. However, the greater achievement is clear. Humanity has finally turned drawing breath into something that requires a privacy policy.
Read the real story: Live Science’s report on individual breathing signatures.
