Sonic-Hash is a jQuery plugin that composes a pentatonic or octatonic melody for secure text-field values
Password entry can be frustrating, especially with long or difficult passwords. On a webpage, secure fields obscure your input with •'s, so others can't read it. Unfortunately, neither can you—you can't tell if you got your password right until you click "Log In".
Sonic-Hash attempts to solve this problem using subtle audible cues. After you finish typing your password, Sonic-Hash will take it, and construct a musical representation of it. In a registration flow where you have to enter their password twice, you can easily tell if they match by comparing the first melody to the second. Or, every time you log in, your trusty password will generate the same distinctive melody. You'll know if you messed up if you hear an unfamiliar tune.
Melodies speak louder than words. Try it out at: http://mattt.github.com/Sonic-Hash/
Note: Requires browser with support for HTML5 <audio>, such as Safari 4, Firefox 3.5, or Chrome
$("input:password").sonicHash({notes: 4, minimum: 6, salt: "7be82b35cb0199120eea35a4507c9acf", scale: "pentatonic"});notes: number of notes to be played each timeminimum: minimum number of characters; otherwise, an alert sound playssalt: value to be appended when calculating hash functionscale: choose notes using a pentatonic or octatonic scale
- jQuery 1.3+
Sonic-Hash uses Paul Johnston's Javascript MD5 implementation, and is distributed under the BSD License See http://pajhome.org.uk/crypt/md5 for more info
Javascript client-side WAV generation based on code by sk89q See http://sk89q.therisenrealm.com/ for more info
Thanks to Christian Crumlish for suggesting the use of sound for password identification.
Mattt Thompson
Sonic-Hash is available under the MIT license. See the LICENSE file for more info.