Humans have nasal respiratory fingerprints.

Abstract

Long-term respiratory patterns are generated by remarkably complex brain networks. Because brains are unique, we hypothesized that their dependent respiratory patterns may be similarly unique. To test this hypothesis, we developed a wearable device that precisely measures and logs nasal airflow in each nostril separately for up to 24-h periods. We found that we could identify members of a 97-participant cohort at a remarkable 96.8% accuracy from nasal airflow patterns alone. In other words, humans have individual nasal airflow fingerprints. Moreover, in test-retest experiments, we found that these individual fingerprints remain stable over extended periods of time, such that individual identification by nasal airflow fingerprints was on par with or better than voice recognition. Finally, we find that the high sensitivity of these fingerprints provides significant indications on both physiological states, such as levels of arousal and body-mass index, and cognitive traits, such as levels of anxiety, levels of depression, and behavioral tendencies. We conclude that long-term patterns of nasal airflow reflect the brain drivers of respiration, are individually unique, and have significant implications for health, emotion, and cognition.