ETS Announces Advanced Biometric Voice Identification

-- Patent pending for new global test security measure for the TOEFL® and TOEIC® tests 

PRINCETON, New Jersey, May 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- ETS today announced that a major new security enhancement, designed to reinforce the position of the company's TOEFL® Program as one of the most secure English-language tests in the world, has been rolled out worldwide. Biometric voice identification, one of the most significant advances in security in the testing sector in many years, was rolled out on February 8, 2014, in all 130 countries where students take the TOEFL test every year.

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The TOEFL Program began piloting the software, which is designed to identify suspected impersonations, in May 2012, and the software has now been rolled out on a global scale as part of the screening process for all TOEFL test takers worldwide. ETS currently has a patent pending on the use of biometric voice identification software for this purpose, and the TOEFL test is the only English-proficiency test using this advanced security measure worldwide.

"The pilot phase of the biometric voice identification software proved it to be a major asset in identifying suspected impersonations and enabling ETS to cancel those scores before they were reported," commented David Hunt, Senior Vice President, Global Education and Workforce Division at ETS. "Security is a top priority at ETS, and we are proud to have this best-in-class security measure in place for our TOEFL test. Valid scores depend on secure administrations, and this powerful new tool will help to ensure just that."

The sophisticated biometrics voice identification software program was developed by a company that provides similar solutions for organizations in the banking, law enforcement and healthcare industries. ETS has also elevated the prominence of its whistleblower hotline to its home page to encourage anyone suspicious about fraudulent activity to make their concerns known to the company.

"The use of biometric voice identification technology is yet one more example of why we at The University of Texas at Austin consider the TOEFL iBT® the best measure of English proficiency available today," says Robert Watkins, Assistant Director Graduate and International Admissions Center at UTA.

ETS plans to extend biometric voice identification to cover the TOEIC® Program this year. More information regarding the TOEFL test's prevention and detection security processes is available at www.ets.org/toefl/institutions/about/security.

About ETS
At ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves individuals, educational institutions and government agencies by providing customized solutions for teacher certification, English language learning, and elementary, secondary and postsecondary education, and by conducting education research, analysis and policy studies. Founded as a nonprofit in 1947, ETS develops, administers and scores more than 50 million tests annually — including the TOEFL® and TOEIC® tests, the GRE® tests and The Praxis Series® assessments — in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide. www.ets.org