Equal error rate

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The equal error rate ( Equal Error Rate , short EER) of a biometric system is the error rate that is achieved in the attitude in which false acceptance rate (FAR) and False Rejection Rate (FRR) are equal.

FAR and FRR basically depend on a threshold value which indicates how different a pattern to be verified may be from the stored reference pattern in order to be accepted as authentic. The higher the threshold, the more patterns are accepted, the higher the FAR and the lower the FRR. Conversely, the FRR increases and the FAR decreases if the threshold value is set lower. (The biometric system becomes "stricter".) If you set the value so that FAR and FRR are the same, you get the same error rate.

The equal error rate is now regarded as the most meaningful measure of the quality of a biometric system. However, it only takes into account the behavior of the system at a critical point and neglects the FAR and FRR curve for other error rates.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Dirk Scheuermann Scarlet Schwiderski-Grosche Bruno Struif: Usability of Biometrics in Relation to Electronic Signatures EU Study 502533/8. GMD - German National Research Center for Information Technology Institute for Secure Telecooperation (SIT), September 12, 2000, accessed on March 31, 2016 (English).