Ready… Set… Go!

Everything you need to get started with VoiceIt.

Tucker Saxon
Aug 8, 2017 · 5 min read

Where can I use a VoiceIt Developer Account?

The better question is “Where can’t you use it?” We’ve already done the hard work for you. What you get is an easy-to-use cloud-based RESTful API. But under the hood are all the complexities of a voice biometrics powerhouse.

This means that the sky’s the limit. If something has sound recording capabilities and access to the internet you can secure it with VoiceIt.

Most frequently, our customers use VoiceIt as a 1st or 2nd Factor Authentication in the following platforms:

  • Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
  • Mobile apps (iOS, Android)
  • Web hosting providers (Web Sites)
  • Internet Connected Devices (IoT)

Determine your Authentication Methodology

First things first. In order to integrate VoiceIt into your project, you’ll need to determine whether do use Active or Passive Authentication Methodology. Your choice will affect the type of Enrollment that your end-users encounter.

When we say Active Enrollment the end-user is informed of the voiceprint phrase capture process. An example of this is asking each person to say a specific phrase after a beep.

Passive Enrollment is where the end-user is not informed of this capture process. For example, using an existing IVR script that captures the user’s first and last name and another piece of information via Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), then using these recordings for enrollment or voice authentication. The person is not aware that voice biometrics is taking place.

Phrases and Syllables

The next decision you need to make for your project is to choose a Voiceprint Phrase and how many syllables it will contain. The industry standard is:

  • “My voice is my password”

Although frequently used, we do NOT recommend this become your Voiceprint Phrase. It’s so popular that hackers count on it. Instead, our recommended Voiceprint Phrase is:

  • “Never forget tomorrow is a new day”

This phrase has 11 syllables, and is easy to say and remember. You’re also welcome to choose your own phrase. ( Learn how to do that here.)

Note that we recommend at least 10 syllables for your phrase. But don’t worry — we’ll help you select a unique and secure Voiceprint Phrase perfect for you.

Enrollment and Authentication

The final decision of integrating VoiceIt into your project is to determine your Enrollment and Authentication processes.

The recommended Enrollment process is to capture 3–7 voiceprint phrases. During this on-boarding process you want to make sure the enrollments are of high quality. To accomplish this you can use the DetectedTextConfidence (part of the JSON response) and check that it is greater than 65% or higher. If DetectedTextConfidence is less than 65%, you would delete the enrollment associated with the given enrollmentID (part of the JSON response). Once you have high quality enrollments, you are ready to authenticate the user.

The authentication process is simple and straightforward. The JSON response contains a Confidence, Response Code, and DetectedTextConfidence. You can use these three items to determine a successful authentication just like the enrollment process checks.

Recordings

When recording Voiceprint Phrases, follow these simple rules:

  • Record for 5 seconds (in tech speak, that’s 5000 milliseconds)
  • Of that time, make sure your phrase is at least 1.2 seconds
  • Recording quality must be at least 16kHz sampling rate (and 16 bits). We accept all major known audio codecs.
  • Do NOT use “speaker mode” on mobile devices
  • On desktop and laptop computers, we suggest using a headset or earbuds
Photo by Kari Shea on Unsplash

Integration is as Easy as 1–2–3!

  1. Create a new User with createUser RESTful API call. This registers a new profile with VoiceIt.
  2. Enroll a User’s Voiceprint Phrase three (3) times with the createEnrollment or with the createEnrollmentByWavUrl RESTful API call. This creates a new enrollment template for the specified user profile.
  3. Authenticate a User with authentication or the authenticationByWavUrl RESTful API call. This is used to authenticate the specified user profile.

The API Parameters

The VoiceIt API Parameters are flexible, powerful, and simple.

API Parameters

A Code Example

The following code snippets use our NodeJS Wrapper to call our RESTful API.

Initialize the NodeJS Wrapper with your Developer ID:

Create a User:

Create at least 3 Enrollments for the User:

Finally Authenticate the User:


Where do you manage your integration?

Everything you need to manage your integration is available in our Developer Console. Here is a list of the main features:

All actions related to your Users can be found and managed here. Create, update, and delete Users as needed. You can also check your API Call Activity.

User Management

This is the motherlode of API documentation. No matter what language you prefer, we’ve got all the wrappers and code snippets you need.

We’ve also got great resources on our GitHub page, such as our Twilio IVR Demo project, iOS SDK, Android SDK, and Cordova Plugin. These allow you to save time by copying code segments into your new or existing project.

Docs

VoiceIt is proud to provide a simplified up-front tiered pricing model. You can start today on our free tier.

On the Billing page, you can add funds, set-up auto recharges, find usage summaries, and review your past payments.

Billing

Here’s where you manage all your custom phrases. For a detailed tutorial on the power of Voiceprint Phrases, you can check out this other post I wrote.

Voiceprint Phrases

View a log of your Users’ activity to easily debug problems and keep up-to-date with the performance of your applications.

Activity Log

Update company details, find your DeveloperId, Default Global Confidence, and even activate API 2.0!

Settings

That’s about it for the Developer Console. Time for you to dig in and get your project intergrated with VoiceIt.

Thanks to Armaan Bindra

Tucker Saxon

Written by

Business Development @voiceittech

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