Voice Biometrics Group academic partnership leads to IngenID launch

A partnership at the University of Rochester led to the founding of a new voice biometrics firm, according to a report by Fuzehub.

IngenID Biometric Innovations is an offshoot of Newtown, Pennsylvania-based Voice Biometrics Group, which offers SaaS for speaker verification purposes. The new company aims to build on voice recognition technology partially developed by a senior engineer at Voice Biometrics Group, who passed away from cancer, and to incorporate the vision of a new partner: Rochester Computer Science and Engineering Professor Zhiyao Duan.

Duan began researching music in his native China before switching to voice biometrics tech while studying at Northwestern University. Now, he specializes in automation, computer audition and speech enhancement systems. At first, he partnered with Peter Soufleris, CEO and founder of Voice Biometrics Group, on a kind of sponsorship deal that created real-world opportunities for Duan’s doctoral students. Soufleris needed talent to continue the work started by his late engineer, and Duan could provide it.

When a grant opportunity arose through the Centre of Excellence in Data Science, a state-backed institute at the University of Rochester, Soufleris and Duan saw a chance to take the next step in formalizing their partnership, and founded IngenID.

Soufleris, who grew up in Syracuse, says the project speaks to his hometown connection to upstate New York.

“What we want to do is build a new delivery platform that specifically houses the University of Rochester technology, hire people in the greater Rochester area and contribute to the New York economy,” he said.

Henceforth, IngenID will be the engine for new development and innovation to come from Duan’s research.

Voice Biometrics Group, described as an “affiliate” on IngenID’s website, will continue as a separate entity.

Duan’s team is working on advanced voice biometric tools to fight fraud, such as voice recognition that has the ability to detect and analyze emotions, and planning to expand into other biometric modalities.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  IngenID  |  research and development  |  voice biometrics  |  Voice Biometrics Group  |  voice recognition