Researchers from the University of Lagos in Nigeria believe that laughter could be a viable biometric, offering a secure signature of login for smartphone access and other electronic devices.

To determine that laughter could potentially be used for identification and access control — along the lines of fingerprint, iris, retina, facial recognition, blood vessel, heart rhythm and even ear scans — the team applied statistical analyses to the many audible frequencies evident in a participant’s laugh to devise unique digital signatures for each person’s laugh.

That data was then used to develop a prototype recognition algorithm, which the team asserted was 90% accurate during testing.

The researchers believe that a person’s unique laugh would be harder to replicate for the purpose of spoofing than fingerprints. As such, the team intends to further explore its features and potentially include it in artificial intelligence (AI) systems in assorted applications.

Laughter is just one of many unique biometrics that show promise for protecting data. Gait, eye and ear shape and structure and even blood vessel patterns are also considered possible biometric solutions.

The research is published in the International Journal of Biometrics.