Germany will begin testing a voice analysis technology to help identify refugees' countries of origin over the next two weeks. 

According to The Verge based on reports from Die Welt, Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) is also eyeing to deploy the technology more widely next year.

Like Us on Facebook

The voice analysis technology is based on voice authentication software which contains recorded speech samples to analyze and identify the dialects of refugees coming to Germany for asylum. The information to be gathered will be used as one of the several indicators in reviewing their asylum applications.

The technology is currently used by banks and other financial services and will be modified for speech analysis. Data from BAMF show that about 60 percent of refugees coming to Germany has no identification papers.

Currently, to determine their countries of origin, Germany uses linguistic experts, a method it has been using since the 1990s, according to Deutsche Welle. 

To further improve the identification process, a draft bill from the German Interior Ministry allowing migration officers to confiscate smartphones and laptops was presented last month. The move caused an uproar from privacy advocates.

The use of the automated voice analysis technology, however, casts doubts over its reliability. In an interview with Deutsche Welle, a linguistic expert Monika Schmidt said the automated process can be fraught.

"Identifying the region of origin for anyone based on their speech is an extremely complex task. We have argued that in order to do so reliably, an analyst must have a solid background in linguistic analysis and be able to take into account a wide range of factors.

For example, people will adapt the way they speak to the speech patterns of their interlocutors, she said. Schmidt, a professor at the University of Essex, doubted how automated software can identify whether an asylum applicant uses a certain word or pronounces it in a certain way because it is a part of his own repertoire or because was primed to do so by the interviewer or interpreter.