Using passtones instead of passwords

As computers progressively dominate our everyday lives, the issue of security becomes increasingly more important. Every electronic account opened has a user name and password attached to it. Usually the password assigned is an arbitrary, random number given by the entity that issues the account. That means the more accounts we have, e.g. e-mail, bank account, office intranets, etc., the more passwords we must remember. Each of these passwords is an alphanumeric sequence. Since it is also recommended that we change passwords every three to six months, it could rapidly become burdensome to remember, not only all the passwords but which password goes with which account. In an effort to simplify the process, many computer users tend to select one generic password and apply it to all accounts. This then becomes a very high security risk since it becomes relatively simple to access all accounts once the first one has been breached. Using the concept that it is easier for the human brain to remember faces than it is to remember alphanumeric sequences; Real User developed an alternative called "Passface". This concept requires users to remember a sequence of five faces as their password rather than alphanumeric characters. Although this may be eminently suitable for the general public, it would be difficult for persons with visual disabilities to use this type of system. The goal of this research effort is to demonstrate that a similar, yet effective, concept can be implemented using sounds instead of faces.