the adventures of teapot the cat

Keyboard Snooping

Posted on November 1st, 2005

Apparently, researchers have figured out a way to tell what you’re typing on your computer just by listening to you type! And this isn’t some lab concocted experiment either - they accomplished this using low end audio gear and regular amounts of processing power. Doubtless this disturbing, but also very intriguing. I would like to see if I can code a similar application! I assume that this wouldn’t work for every user, since a lot of people type differently - but a large percentage of computer users probably type in a similar, trained fashion. But it’s possible the recognition algorithm bases it’s deciphering a larger set of features such as the fact that the space bar sounds different. What about laptops? Different types of keyboard configurations for ergonomics?

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