CHAPTER 18 Ear Biometric: An Aid to Personal Identification Ruma Purkait INTRODUCTION In this electronic age the issue of identification is no longer confined within the walls of Peniten- tiary. In today’s scenario where computers, CCD cameras and other sophisticated electronic gadgets are invading every nook and corner, personal identification has emerged as a global problem. There is an ever-growing need to authenticate individuals. Conventionally, one establishes his identity using passports, identity cards, keys, or by remembering passwords and personal identification numbers (PIN) when one gains access to a restricted area. Unfortunately the possessions can be lost, duplicated or stolen, and passwords and PIN can easily be forgotten, compromised, or observed. Such deficiencies of conventional personal identification techniques cause major problems to all concerned. In UK itself the rapidly growing identity theft industry is now estimated to be costing GBP 1.7 billion per year. To address the deficiencies of conventional techniques a robust, reliable and foolproof personal identification solution is sought. ‘Biometrics’ could be the answer to this. BIOMETRICS Though it had been used throughout history, Biometrics first came to limelight in 1879 when Alphonse Bertillon (1853–1914), a French Criminologist, introduced his anthropometrical signalment or Bertillonage system for identifying convicted criminals. He developed a method of identification based on anthropometry of various parts of the body including head, ear, fingers etc., the size of which remain constant throughout life after attaining full growth. He even included description of morphological facial features and any peculiar mark observed on the surface of the body. The measurements were incorporated into a formula that referred to a single unique individual, and recorded onto cards which also bore photographic frontal and profile images of the suspect. The cards were then systematically filed and cross-indexed, so they could be easily retrieved. The system was a huge breakthrough and adopted by law enforcement agencies across the world. With time, some drawbacks of the system came to light. For instance, some large cities had huge databases of cards, and sorting and searching for a particular card could take days. The anthro- pometrical signalment was found not to be a totally unique biometric. This was discovered when they found that some people shared the same measurements. Eventually this led to abandonment of Bertillonage system in favour of fingerprint identification. Though Bertillonage seemed to slip into history with the success of finger print system, the advent of computers has brought a flourish of new technologies based on human morphological characteristics. This has ushered personal identification to a more accurate, automatic and highly secure world of ‘Biometrics’. Types of Biometrics Biometrics is a method of identifying or verifying the identity of an individual based on the physiological and behavioural characteristics. Physiological biometrics is based on data derived from direct measurement of a part of the human body. Fingerprint, iris-scan, DNA fingerprinting, retina scan, hand geometry, and facial recognition are leading physiological biometrics. Behavioural biometrics, in turn, is based on data derived from an action taken by a person. Voice recognition, keystroke-scan, and signature-scan are leading behavioural biometric traits. Any human physiological or behavioural characteristic can be used as a biometric characteristic as long as it is Universal, Unique and Permanent (Jain et al., 2004). Biometrics can be either Passive or Active. Facial recognition, for example is a Passive biometrics. It does not require user’s active participation and can be successful without persons even knowing that they have been analysed. But Active biometrics, fingerprint, retina scanning, signature recognition etc. however, do require personal cooperation and will not work if one denies participation in the process.