Glossary
Voiceprint
A voiceprint is a stored model of a person's voice, built from measurable features of their speech and used to recognize or verify that person. Illinois law lists voiceprints among biometric identifiers, and other vendors call the same idea a voice template or speaker model.
Updated October 17, 20262 cited facts, each traced to its source
Also called voice print, voice template, speaker model.
A voiceprint is a stored model of a person's voice, built from measurable features of their speech and used to recognize that person later. The word is informal in speech technology, and the models behind it go by several names, including voice template and speaker model. What makes a voiceprint different from an ordinary recording is that it is designed to match a voice to a person.
Where the word comes from
Illinois's Biometric Information Privacy Act defines biometric identifiers to include voiceprints, alongside fingerprints and iris scans 1. That legal use is the clearest definition in force, and it explains why the word carries privacy weight. The Act's definition makes a voiceprint a kind of identifier, not just a file.
Speech technology uses the idea more loosely. IEEE Technology Navigator defines speaker recognition as the computational task of identifying or verifying the identity of an individual from characteristics of their voice 2. A voiceprint is the stored form of those characteristics that such a system compares against.
An example: a voice used to unlock an account
Imagine a bank that asks you to say a phrase when you call. During enrollment, the system records your voice and stores a model of it. On later calls it compares the new voice with that stored model. The stored model is the voiceprint. If the bank keeps it, you have given it a biometric identifier that can be used to recognize you, even though you only spoke a phrase.
Why it matters for dictation
Dictation does not need a voiceprint. Turning speech into text works on the words, and a plain dictation product can work without learning who is speaking. A voiceprint appears when a product offers speaker identification, voice login or a voice model tied to you. In that case, check whether the vendor stores the model, for how long, and whether you can delete it. The question of voice recognition and speaker recognition explains the difference in more detail.
Calling something a "voice profile" does not settle the question. A voice profile in dictation software usually stores settings and custom words, and it does not identify a person. A voiceprint identifies one. Read the policy, because the names overlap.
Related terms and guides
A voiceprint is used by speaker verification, which checks a claimed identity, and by speaker identification, which searches a set of known voices. Because a voiceprint identifies a person, it falls within biometric data. For the legal rules on voice data, read is your voice biometric data? GDPR, BIPA and CCPA and voice cloning and deepfakes: risks and protection, since a voice model can be misused to imitate a speaker.
Evidence
Every number on this page, with where it comes from. Open a fact to see the exact words in its source.
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Related terms
- Speech to Text Privacy: Where Your Voice GoesThe topic this term belongs to
- All-party consentAll-party consent is a recording rule under which every participant in a conversation must agree before it can be recorded or intercepted. California, Florida and Maryland use it in their statutes, and it is stricter than one-party consent.
- Attorney-client privilegeAttorney-client privilege protects confidential communications between a lawyer and their client about seeking legal advice or services. A third party who is present, or a tool that handles the conversation, can put that protection at risk.
- Biometric dataBiometric data is personal data produced by technical processing of a person's physical, physiological or behavioral characteristics that allows or confirms who that person is. A voice recording becomes biometric data when it is processed to identify the speaker.
- Business associate agreement (BAA)A business associate agreement (BAA) is the written contract that HIPAA requires before a covered entity lets a vendor create, receive, maintain or transmit protected health information on its behalf. Dictation tools used in clinics often need one, and a BAA alone does not make a product compliant.
- False accept (accidental activation)A false accept, also called a false wake or accidental activation, is when a voice assistant or dictation feature starts listening or recording although the wake word was not said. Smart speakers have been measured to wake by accident, and that can capture speech the user did not mean to share.
- Federated learningFederated learning is a way to train one machine learning model on data spread across many devices. Each device computes an update from its own data, and only those updates are sent to a server, so the raw data does not have to be collected in one place.
- On-device speech recognitionOn-device speech recognition converts speech to text with a model that runs on your own computer or phone, so the audio does not need to be sent to a server. It is also called local, offline or on-device dictation.
- One-party consentOne-party consent is a recording rule under which a conversation can be recorded lawfully when one of its participants agrees, which is usually the person doing the recording. The US federal wiretap law uses this rule, and individual states may set stricter ones.
- Protected health information (PHI)Protected health information (PHI) is individually identifiable health information that HIPAA protects when it is held or sent in electronic or other form by a covered entity or its business associate. Patient names with diagnoses, in dictated notes or voice recordings, are PHI. It is also called ePHI when held electronically.
- Speaker verificationSpeaker verification is a voice biometric check in which a system accepts or rejects a claimed identity by comparing a voice with stored models of the person claimed. It is also called voice authentication, voice ID or voice biometrics.
- Special category data (GDPR)Special category data is the group of personal data that Article 9 of the GDPR bans organizations from processing unless a listed exception applies. It includes health data and biometric data used to identify a person, and a voice recording can fall into it when it is processed that way.
- Voice cloningVoice cloning is the use of a model trained on recordings of one person to generate new speech in that person's voice. Some products need only minutes of clear audio, and cloned voices have been used in fraud, so recordings of your voice carry a real risk.
Pages that use this term
- Speech to Text Privacy: Where Your Voice GoesTopic
- Is Voice to Text Safe? How to Dictate PrivatelyGuide
- Meeting Transcription: How It Works and What to UseGuide
- Is Your Voice Biometric Data? GDPR, BIPA and CCPAGuide
- Voice Cloning and Deepfakes: Risks and ProtectionGuide
- Does Illinois BIPA cover voiceprints?Question
- Does speech to text collect biometric data?Question
- How does a voice recognition security system work?Question
- Is a voice recording personal data under GDPR?Question
- Is voice authentication still secure?Question
- Is voice data sensitive personal information under the CCPA?Question
- What is voice biometrics and how does a voice biometric system work?Question
- Biometric dataGlossary
- Keystroke dynamicsGlossary
- Speaker verificationGlossary
- Special category data (GDPR)Glossary
- Voice cloningGlossary