Why don't we have Voice recognition entrance keys to our homes and businesses ?

Probably because a simple recording of your voice could allow entry access.

I don’t like it.I would be lost without losing my keys constantly ;)

Security access generally consists of one or more of these:
– Something you are (biometric, etc.)
– Something you have (a key or credit card)
– Something you know (a password/pin)

Things you have & know can be changed if compromised—you can replace a credit card with a new one, you can change a password or pin.

Something that relies on something you ARE cannot be changed—you cannot change your fingerprints, you cannot change your retina, you cannot change your voice.

Biometrics is useful for “publicly available information” like your name/username/etc—it doesn’t change. You can use it to say “I am this person”, like a username, but you cannot use it for authentication because it can be compromised (theoretically), and once compromised it cannot be changed.

Access to houses is generally just “something you have” because of the low-tech locks we use (which also don’t require electricity or whatnot, handy when the power is out). Cars that have the little keypads on them are never used to supplement the keys (e.g., adding something you know), but to permit you to unlock the car without the key.

With so much recording software so close at hand (MP3 players, phones etc) it can be too easily compromised, if such a thing is used, it is normally used in conjunction with other technologies, the combination of which cost (at this present time) vast amounts.

@grumpyfish
Interesting information.
I wish I had a technology now; that would help when the door is so cold the lock is hard to turn. I sprayed it with lock ease.
I had heard that voice prints would be great because everyone’s is unique. I guess we could have a back up key for power outrages. Thumb prints are OK too.
I know some people have installed locks that require you type in a code on their doors. I saw someone doing this outside a business last week. It got me thinking.

@philosopher Yeah, the little keypad ones are cool, although again they’re just shifting something you have to something you know. However, 50% of the time the code on those is either the last 5 digits of the phone number, or the zipcode. Random numbers are hard to remember.

You still go back to the problem that if compromised, you can’t change it. If I have a very good voice recording of you that can trick the receiver (you only have to be as good as the microphone in the lock), it’s all good. Thumbprints can be reproduced off of things you touch, or simply stolen from your hands if necessary.

Because you wouldn’t want to pony up the high dollars necessary to support such a system.

@grumpyfish
LOL I think of the Startrek world and the show Eureka but sadly we are not there.

@philosopher True! However, even on Eureka & Startrek authorization codes are required (e.g., “Picard Delta 5” in Ship in a Bottle), or the authorization transfer codes when control of the facility went from Nathan to Allison and they had to enter their personal access codes.

That would be really expensive to implement and wouldn’t have much benefit. Like grumpyfish mentioned, you can’t change your biometric identification. You can change key cards, keys, passwords, etc. You can also change locks, and the cost of doing so is way more attractive than the cost of installing a security system you might not even have to change.

Advanced security systems work well for the government, businesses, and organizations. They allow central management of a large list of credentials, and can change them at a moment’s notice. A system can be programmed to reject a person who isn’t authorized with relative ease and keep track of who accessed a location and when, and that is something that might be important enough to them to actually pay for the system. But these systems are also accompanied by state-of-the-art mechanical locks.

Pairing one up with a plain old key lock is just as easily thwarted as a key lock on it’s own if someone really wants to get in—break the door in, go in through a window, etc.

@grumpyfish
OK so you understand what gets my imagination going.
LOL having the lock so cold that it barely turns makes me wish for something better.

Why choose the voice as the key, what happens when you have a sore throat and can’t speak…. or when you stumble back home because of a hard night of partying and the person bringing you home can’t get you to stop singing incoherently….

Your best option at this time is a keyless entry door lock, either with a keypad or with an electronic remote just like with vehicles, or a proximity RF tag, all of which is electronically controlled, except for the keypad which are available in mechanical versions.

@njnyjobs
I wanted to see what people thought. I hate when locks freeze.

The next best thing to solve your frozen lock dilema is the use of one of these door lock systems: http://www.nokey.com/elstrikandma.html