- Researchers found breathing patterns can uniquely identify individuals, similar to DNA.
- A study in Current Biology showed 96.8% accuracy in identifying people by nasal airflow.
- A lightweight device tracked participants' breathing continuously for 24 hours to collect data.
It is well established in science that certain physical traits-such as fingerprints and DNA-are unique to every individual.Now Researchers have discovered that breathing patterns can serve as a unique identifier, much like fingerprints or DNA.
A recent study published in Cell Press journal Current Biology found that scientists can identify individuals based on their nasal respiratory patterns with 96.8% accuracy. These "breath fingerprints" not only provide a potential new method for identification but also offer insights into physical and mental health.
According to a news release, to test the idea, the team developed a lightweight wearable device that tracks nasal airflow continuously for 24 hours using soft tubes placed under the nostrils. Most breathing tests last just one to 20 minutes, focusing on evaluating lung function or diagnosing disease. But those brief snapshots aren't enough to capture subtle patterns.
"You would think that breathing has been measured and analyzed in every way," says author Noam Sobel of the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. "Yet we stumbled upon a completely new way to look at respiration. We consider this as a brain readout."
Sobel's team fitted 100 healthy young adults with the device and asked them to go about their daily lives. Using the collected data, the team identified individuals using only their breathing patterns with high accuracy. This high-level accuracy remained consistent across multiple retests conducted over a two-year period, rivaling the precision of some voice recognition technologies.
"I thought it would be really hard to identify someone because everyone is doing different things, like running, studying, or resting," says author Timna Soroka of the Weizmann Institute of Science. "But it turns out their breathing patterns were remarkably distinct."
Moreover, the study found that these respiratory fingerprints correlated with a person's body mass index, sleep-wake cycle, levels of depression and anxiety, and even behavioral traits. For example, participants who scored relatively higher on anxiety questionnaires had shorter inhales and more variability in the pauses between breaths during sleep. Soroka noted that none of the participants met clinical diagnostic criteria for mental or behavioral conditions. The results suggest that long-term nasal airflow monitoring may serve as a window into physical and emotional well-being.
"We intuitively assume that how depressed or anxious you are changes the way you breathe," says Sobel. "But it might be the other way around. Perhaps the way you breathe makes you anxious or depressed. If that's true, we might be able to change the way you breathe to change those conditions."
