Adults find ECG authentication usable but express privacy and trust concerns

The five-minute version

About half (52.2%) of surveyed adults said they would be comfortable using ECG authentication, and participants who tried a simulated ECG login found it easy to learn and usable, especially when prior biometric experience was present; age was not a decisive factor. The evidence comes from a pilot survey of 337 adults and a usability study with 49 participants, but the sample is small, unevenly aged, and the prototype does not reflect a real ECG system, so conclusions are tentative.

What they found 5

• 52.2% of participants reported they would be comfortable using ECG authentication.

  “Of these, 176 participants (52.2%) reported they would be comfortable using ECG authentication, while 161 (47.8%) indicated they would not.”

• Acceptance was strongly linked to prior biometric use and perceived security.

  “The acceptance was largely associated with prior use of biometric authentication for banking and with perceiving biometrics as more secure than passwords.”

• Age did not significantly affect ECG acceptance.

  “although age did not play a decisive role.”

• Prototype users perceived the simulated ECG interaction as easy to learn and suitable for mobile apps.

  “participants generally perceived the simulated interaction as easy to learn and use and suitable for integration with mobile applications.”

• Older participants reported higher usability scores, but only five older users completed the full questionnaire.

  “In Study 2, the older subgroup reported higher usability scores, although this exploratory comparison included only five older complete cases.”

What undercuts it the paper’s own results

• The overall acceptance is only moderate (52.2%), indicating many users remain hesitant.
• Study 2 involved only 49 participants with uneven age representation and only five older adults, limiting the strength of usability claims.
• The ECG interface was simulated, not a deployed system, so perceived usability may not translate to real-world performance.
• Self-selection bias from open-call recruitment may over-represent tech-savvy individuals.

Stated limits 4

• Study 1 used a convenience sample and cross-sectional survey design, which limits causal interpretation and broader generalisability.
• The survey and usability samples were not directly linked; therefore, the manuscript does not claim that the same individuals moved from pre-prototype attitudes to post-prototype usability perceptions.
• Study 2 was exploratory and involved 49 completed post-test responses, of which 45 contained complete data across all 15 usability items. Representation across age groups was uneven, and only five participants aged 55 years and older were included in the complete-case usability analysis.
• The ECG process was evaluated through a prototype rather than a fully deployed ECGenabled system, meaning that the findings reflect perceived usability, perceived security, and user attitudes rather than real-world authentication performance, long-term usability, signal stability, or resistance to attack.

What’s new here 4

• First large-scale survey of adult users’ attitudes toward ECG-based authentication (337 respondents).
• Usability evaluation of a simulated ECG authentication flow within a healthcare app prototype.
• Analysis of how prior biometric use and perceived security influence willingness to adopt ECG authentication.
• Exploratory comparison of older versus younger adults’ acceptance and usability perceptions.

Artifacts & methods 4

• online survey of 337 adultsdataset
• healthcare app prototype with password and ECG authentication pathwayssystem
• post-test usability questionnaire (SUS-informed items)evaluation
• binary logistic regression model for acceptance predictorsprimitive

Topics