What is Voice Biometrics? And How Does Voice Biometrics Work in The Contact Center?

According to a study conducted, the global voice biometrics market was valued at around USD 2.53 billion in 2022 and is estimated to grow about 23.48% from 2023-2028. 

Voice biometrics is one new invention that has completely changed how businesses confirm identities. Utilizing the unique characteristics of each person’s speech, voice biometrics provides an advanced means of security. 

This blog provides in-depth information about voice biometrics and how it works in contact centers along with some benefits and common challenges.  

Let’s dive straight into it!!!!!!

What is voice biometrics?

Voice biometrics is a technology that uses a person’s voice to identify and authenticate them. According to this technology, every individual has a different frequency pattern and set of vocal characteristics. It analyses a set of characteristics that can be used to identify the individual such as rhythm, pitch, frequency, and tone.  

This technology uses machine learning algorithms and voice databases. It analyses and compares the data of known voice features with the unknown ones and if there is a match between the voices, the voice biometrics system will determine who is speaking. 

Types of voice biometrics

The following are the two main types of voice biometrics.

• Active voice biometrics

An active voice biometric is simply where the user is expected to actively participate.  this means repeating a particular phrase multiple times to set up the voiceprint in the biometrics system and other things. 

This type of voice biometric is most commonly used in high-security situations where an additional layer of security is required.

• Passive voice biometrics

With a passive voice biometric system, the user does not have to actively participate by repeating a specific phrase to set up their voice data. It is more of a user-friendly approach to voice biometrics as this method uses the user’s voice during a regular conversation. 

Advantages of voice biometrics in contact center

A voice biometric system offers a highly secure security method based on unique voice characteristics, providing reliable verification without the need for physical passwords. The following are some of the top advantages of a voice biometrics system in contact centers. 

• Shorter Average Handling Times

Contact center voice biometric authentication has enabled clients to interact with agents more quickly than they could have with a “traditional” identity check procedure, indicating a quicker verification time. Additionally, the average handling time—that is, the duration of time customers spend calling and waiting for their issue to be resolved—is greatly decreased. Speech biometric verification can help organizations cut their average handling time by more than thirty seconds per call.

• Fraud prevention 

In a contact center, voice biometric authentication helps in recognizing fraud and prevents account takeover. The contact center increases security by enrolling the customer’s voice, creating a voiceprint, and encrypting it. With this system integrated into your contact center, a high level of caller authentication accuracy is achieved when we combine the system with speech detection software. 

• Higher security 

With the normal verification process, callers were provided with security questions or a PIN. These login details were compromised and shown to be weak. Expert scammers can easily find the answers to such inquiries by searching the account holder’s website.  

But voice biometrics can weaken the scammer’s system. It is very hard to compromise on a unique vocal pattern. Even when scammers attempt to take control via an IVR, mobile app, or contact center, the security of voice biometrics prevents them. Due to all of these safeguards against fraud, voice biometric authentication is highly susceptible to fraud.

• Improved and enhanced customer satisfaction 

When using traditional login techniques, customers may find it time-consuming and annoying to memorize complicated passwords or respond to security questions. The voice verification method allows customers to authenticate themselves quickly and easily.

Additionally, voice biometrics frees up customer support agents to concentrate more on fixing the customer’s problem than on confirming their identification. This shortens call times and boosts client satisfaction.

How does voice biometrics work in the contact center?

Voice biometrics works in a very unique way. It captures a voice sample from an individual and converts it into a unique voiceprint using complex technology. Then, it stores the voiceprint and uses it for future authentication. In the future, if the same person tries to authenticate the identity, then the system takes the voice sample and matches it to their database. If the two voice samples are a match, then the person is authenticated. 

Down below, we will provide you with an overview of how voice biometrics works from start to finish. Let’s get started. 

1. The voice recognition system captures a voice sample from a person and enters it into their database. It gathers enough data on their voice to accurately represent an individual’s voice attributes. 
2. After the voice data is enrolled, the system extracts various characters such as speed, speech, accent, etc.
3. Then, it processes these features using its complex algorithm to create a digital representation of the person’s voice. It will then serve as a sample piece of voice data whenever that person tries to authenticate. 
4. At last, whenever an individual tries to attempt their authentication. The voice data samples are extracted and compared until they find a match. 

Top industries that use voice biometric system

Even though voice biometrics is fairly a new technology, a lot of different industries have already started implementing it into their system. The following is a list of a few of them.

1. Call and contact center
2. Hospitality industry
3. Travel industry 
4. Healthcare sector
5. Telecommunication sector
6. Government sector
7. Education sector

Common issues faced while using voice biometrics in the contact center

Even though the voice biometric is an excellent method of authentication, it often faces some kind of challenges. The following are some of the common issues you might face while using voice biometrics in your contact center. 

• A voice biometric system requires the users to speak loudly and clearly, but this can be a challenge for those who have a speech impairment. 
• As voice biometrics is fairly a new technology it can be very expensive. Although it is one of the best major for security authentication, it can get quite expensive to implement and maintain. 
• Voice biometric system requires quite a large database to store all voice data for it to be effective. This can be a huge issue for large businesses as maintaining thousands of voice data can be hectic. 
• Sometimes, voice biometrics can be fooled by someone else’s voice recording. Through this scam is possible.
• Voice biometrics sometimes can be very invasive as the system may want you to regularly update your voice and other authentication methods. 

Conclusion

Voice biometrics allow strong identification verification and is a groundbreaking advancement in security technology. They offer a smooth and user-friendly authentication process, improving security as we become more dependent on digital interactions. Voice biometrics is also going to change the way we handle and safeguard sensitive data in the future.

To summarize the above article, we have mentioned all the necessary information regarding voice biometrics and how it works in contact centers. We hope you enjoyed reading this blog post. As always, we recommend that all our readers do their research before considering implementing it into your business.

FAQs

What is voice biometrics?

Voice biometrics is a new technology that recognizes and identifies individuals based on their unique vocal and other characteristics. 

How secure is voice biometrics compared to traditional methods like passwords?

Voice biometrics provide a more secure security method compared to traditional passwords due to the unique characteristics of each person’s voice, authentication capabilities, and integrated anti-cyber thread measures.

How does voice biometrics impact the customer experience in contact centers?

Voice biometrics enhances the customer experience in contact centers by simplifying the authentication process with voice verification, reducing agent wait times, and improving security measures.

What challenges do contact centers face when implementing voice biometrics?

The following are the challenges you might face while using voice biometrics in your contact system.

• Security issue
• Cost 
• User Acceptance 
• Intruding enrollment process

What industries besides contact centers use voice biometrics?

The following are the industries that use voice biometrics besides contact centers.

• Healthcare sector
• Hospitality sector
• Travel sector
• Banking and Finance 
• Education sector