John interviews Rita Singh: a pioneer in the emerging field of voice profiling, the author of “Profiling Humans from Their Voice,” and an associate research professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Rita and her team are developing technology that can analyze a human voice signal and unlock a wealth of information about its owner. With only a short voice recording, researchers can make startlingly accurate deductions about a person’s skeletal structure, general appearance, age, and even their medical outlook. This obviously has massive implications for health care, and in just a few months, commercially available voice profiling that uses Rita’s technology may help people find out whether they should take a COVID-19 test, or if they’re “in the clear.”

John and Rita talk about the moment that led her to switch from voice recognition research to voice profiling; how the technology works; how it could transform health care; and the serious privacy implications that arise when a short voice recording is all it takes to unlock a stranger’s health secrets.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.