Bachelor Thesis: Extend EarXplore by adding an Authentication Webpage

Background

Earables are earbuds equipped with multiple sensors. Authentication is one of the four big application areas of earables as defined by Röddiger et al. (2022). Although is has been the smallest when the review was published, there was a surge in publications thereafter. This points to the significance and risen interest in authentification.

In the context of EarXplore (Hummel et al., 2025), one of the other four major areas of earable research has already been mapped to an interactive online database. As this database should act as a community resource, it is thought of to be extended to other domains of earable research. The goal of this thesis is to extend the platform by contributing the topic of authentication as well as further developing the platform.

A guideline of what the student will be asked for is given below. The tasks will be conducted in close collaboration with the supervisor:

Tasks

  1. Systematically searching the literature from 2021 (after Röddiger et al. (2022)) until 2025 for scientific publications involving earables for authentication.
  2. Identifying the questions researchers would ask when going to the platform and finding research criteria that can answer these questions as well as encoding the found studies along them.
  3. Along these collected information, extending EarXplore by the dimension of authentication. For this, you not only need the relevant data for each of the four views (Tabular, Graphical, Similarity, and Timeline), but also to adapt the website so that the visitor has the option to decide between the information on interaction and authentication.
  4. Using the information you have retrieved to depict and discuss the current state of the field with respect to earable authentication as well as its research gaps and opportunities
  5. Optional Bonus: Developing an additional view that extends EarXplore’s general capabilities and fits within its framework.

Requirements

  • Interest in scientific literature and the ability to understand literature covering diverse topics.
  • Conscientiousness, diligence, and the ability to structure information (as well as oneself).
  • Knowledgability in website design (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Flask)  (see open-source GitHub repository of the project for orientation)
  • Python (for preparing the data featured in the website)

If you are interested in this topic, please contact Jonas Hummel (hummel@teco.edu).