A Robust Speech Encryption System Based

on DNA Addition and Chaotic Maps

R. Nagakrishnan(&) and A. Revathi

Department of ECE, School of EEE, SASTRA Deemed to be University,

Thanjavur, Tamilnadu, India
nagakrishnan@sastra.ac.in, revathi@ece.sastra.edu

Abstract. Encryption is one of the most important methods for providing data
security mainly for an end to end protection of data transmitted across the
networks. In this paper, we proposed a speech encryption algorithm based on
DNA addition and chaotic maps for secure speech communication. The algo-
rithm deals with sampled speech signal that is given as input which is divided
into four segments of equal duration. During successive levels of iteration, the
speech segment is permuted and substituted with different chaotic mapping
techniques such as sine mapping, henon mapping, logistic mapping and tent
mapping. After performing the permutation and substitution all the segments are
combined and encoded as a sequence of DNA’s denoted by X. The DNA
sequence X and DNA sequence Y obtained using henon mapping are summed
up together using DNA addition operation. Finally, the speech encryption is
obtained as the result using DNA decoding. The correlation co-efficient test,
Signal to noise ratio test and Peak Signal to Noise Ratio test provides better
analysis of the proposed system. The algorithm also provides a better simulation
result and also helps in resisting the brute force attacks and differential attacks.

Keywords: Chaotic mapping
DNA encoding
Speech encryption

1 Introduction

Voice based communication has become very important in the field of video telephony,
mobile banking, education, military etc. The encryption methods are characterized into
digital speech encryption method and analog encryption method. The digital speech
encryption is classified into two types: symmetric and asymmetric. The examples of the
symmetric digital encryption technique are Advanced Encryption Standard [8] and
Data Encryption Standard. The symmetric digital encryption algorithm is also called a
secret key algorithm; it uses the same key for both encryption and decryption. It is
rarely used in existing voice based communication systems due to the increase in
capacity of the encrypted speech signal. The examples of the asymmetric digital
encryption technique are RSA algorithm. The asymmetric encryption algorithm is also
called a public key algorithm; it uses the different key for both encryption and
decryption. The asymmetric digital encryption scheme is not advisable for voice based
communication due to difficulty, results in slow performance [6].

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

A. Abraham et al. (Eds.): ISDA 2018, AISC 940, pp. 1070–1080, 2020.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16657-1_100
 A Robust Speech Encryption System Based on DNA Addition and Chaotic Maps 1071

In modern years, a secure system was developed based on chaos theory. It has
involved a large contract of consideration; chaos based encryption have several pre-
dominant characteristics include pseudo random number generator, ergodicity and
sensitive dependence on initial conditions or origin boundary [7]. These characteristics
are appropriate for secure communication and a lot of speech encryption systems have
been proposed [1–4, 6].
Speech encryption [1] based on three different secret keys are proposed. In this
system, the speech signals are rotated in both row and column wise to achieve
imperceptibility speech. Speech encryption algorithm [3] based on several chaotic
mapping techniques is proposed. In this system, the speech samples are permuted using
logistic mapping and resultant is divided into four speech segments based on amplitude
values. Each speech segment is permuted with four different chaotic mapping tech-
niques. Speech encryption techniques [4] are related by the four dimensional hyper
chaotic sequence. The hyperchaotic system is proved with high-quality randomness
and unpredictability and speech sequence are compressed by DCT to decrease
transparency.
In order to compute huge parallel data over the encryption, DNA based computing
is used in cryptographic techniques. The memory storage complexity in one time pad
can be avoided using DNA based system as it has huge information structure and the
vast storage of data in one time pad. Henceforth, this paper suggests a DNA based
speech encryption to overcome the storage problem.
The paper is systemized in the following way. The different types of chaotic
mapping used in this algorithm are discussed in Sect. 2. The different DNA rules and
DNA addition are presented in Sect. 3. The proposed encryption system is described in
Sect. 4. The simulation results and security analysis is presented in Sect. 5. Finally the
conclusion is discussed in Sect. 6.

2 Chaotic Mapping

Chaos is a stochastic process in nonlinear dynamic systems [7] that is generally used in
the field of cryptography.

2.1 Logistic Mapping

The logistic mapping [7] is a 1-D chaotic map that contains difficult chaotic behavior
which can occur from the basic non-linear equation as in (1)

xn þ 1 ¼ z xn ð1  xn Þ ð1Þ

Where x0 is a number between [0, 1]. The z is the control parameter.

1072 R. Nagakrishnan and A. Revathi

2.2 Sine Mapping

The Sine map is one of the well-known one dimension chaotic maps which are similar
to the Logistic map. The mathematical function of sine map can be expressed as in (2)

xn þ 1 ¼ r1 sinðp xn Þ ð2Þ

Where, the system parameter r1 is varied between 0 and 4. x0 is the initial condition
of the sine map. The value of x0 is varying between [0.25, 0.5].

2.3 Tent Mapping

The tent mapping is chosen as it is simple and fast in computation. The mathematical
function of tent map can be described as in (3)


lxn for xn \ 12
xn þ 1 ¼ ð3Þ
lð1  xn Þ for 12 \xn

where 0 \ l  2. x0 is the initial condition. This map is continuous, linear on each of

the intervals [−1, 1/2] and [1/2, 1] with respect to slopes µ and −µ. Its dynamics show
various features are commonly used to identify chaotic systems.

2.4 Henon Mapping

The Henon mapping is the one dimensional chaotic map which produces nonlinear
behavior system. It projects the chaotic behavior of the signal. The mathematical
function of Henon mapping can be described as in (4)

xn þ 1 ¼ 1  ða x2 ðnÞÞ þ b xðn  1Þ ð4Þ

It consists of two constants a and b having values 1.4 and 0.3 respectively.

3 DNA Encoding and Decoding

The DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) sequence is a very important characteristics tool for
many researches in biologic, diagnostic, forensics, biotechnology and biological sys-
tematic areas. The DNA contains a consistent amount of information density amount of
that generally applies to the one time pad. The DNA sequence consists of four nucleic
acids namely adenine (A), guanine (G), thymine (T) and cytosine (G). It takes on a base
pairing which refers to the combination of A and T together. Similarly, this holds good
in the combination of C and G ensuring complementary operation between each other.
In general, considering a binary system we refer that 0 and 1 are binary and 1 is
complementary of 0. The binary pairs 00 and 11 are complementary. The binary pairs
01 and 10 are complementary [5]. Table 1 shows the rules of the DNA sequence for
encoding and decoding map.
 A Robust Speech Encryption System Based on DNA Addition and Chaotic Maps 1073

Table 1. DNA mapping rules

A T C G
Rule 1 00 11 01 10
Rule 2 11 00 01 10
Rule 3 11 11 10 01
Rule 4 00 00 10 01
Rule 5 01 10 00 11
Rule 6 10 01 00 11
Rule 7 01 10 11 00
Rule 8 10 01 11 00

3.1 Addition Operation for DNA Sequence

With the fast development in the field of DNA computing, several arithmetical and
biological operations based on DNA sequences are highlighted [9]. The basic binary
addition is carried out in the case of addition operation of the DNA sequence. For
example: 00 + 01 = 01, 10 + 01 = 11, 11 + 00 = 11, 01 + 11 = 01. We use 00, 11, 01,
10 denoted as A, C, T, G respectively. The DNA addition operation is shown in Table 2.

Table 2. Addition operation for DNA sequence

+ A T C G
A C G A T
T G C T A
C A T C G
G T A G C

4 The Proposed Speech Encryption Algorithm

Initially, the original speech is segregated into four speech segments of speech with
equal duration. Each level uses a different type of chaotic mappings such as sine
mapping, logistic mapping, henon mapping and tent mapping. The first speech segment
is confused and substituted with a logistic mapping, second speech segment is confused
and substituted with sine mapping, third speech segment is confused and substituted
with tent mapping and fourth speech segment is confused and substituted with henon
mapping.
The block diagram of the proposed encryption system is shown in Fig. 1. The
algorithm of the proposed system is presented in Fig. 2. The encryption process is
achieved in three phases: Permutation phase, first level substitution phase and DNA
level substitution phase.
1074 R. Nagakrishnan and A. Revathi

Fig. 1. Block diagram of speech encryption system

Fig. 2. Flowchart of the proposed speech encryption system

 A Robust Speech Encryption System Based on DNA Addition and Chaotic Maps 1075

4.1 Permutation Phase

The permutation phase modifies the elements of each sample of the speech signal to its
modified new position without altering the data in it. Permutation in hands with a
chaotic map is considered to be a better permutation process because of its sensitivity to
initial conditions as well as its random behavior. The same process carried out in time
domain phase provides disturbances in the time envelope of the speech, which in turn
decreases the intelligibility of the demographic speech.

4.2 First Level Substitution Phase

Substitution is a methodology by which the amplitude of the elements in every speech
segment is converted to other values without altering their position in the block. This
methodology in processing the samples performed to modify the power spectrum of the
speech, thereby avoiding the risk of cryptanalysis.

4.3 DNA Level Substitution Phase

After substitution of each speech segment, are combined together. These data are
converted to DNA sequence X. the henon map generate a random bit sequence, and it
is converted to DNA sequence Y. The sequence X and Y are added together to produce
new DNA sequence Z. Z is decoded and the resultant is called encrypted signal.

5 Simulation Results and Discussion

The proposed speech encryption system was simulated using Matlab tool. Three
samples of male and female speech signals were taken and sampled at 8 kHz sampling
rate. The input Speech signals are taken from www.1speechsoft.com/voices.html. The
key sets used for encryption are x0 ¼ 0:43, l ¼ 1:79, a ¼ 1:25, b ¼ 0:3, r ¼ 4,
r1 ¼ 0:01. The process of encryption is evident by simulation results, which is shown
in Fig. 3. From the simulation results, it is evident that the encrypted signal is entirely
varying from the input speech whereas the decryption provided the input speech
completely.

5.1 Correlation Test

The correlation test is used to analyze and measures the performance of the chaotic
system so as to provide a strong encryption algorithm. The quality of encryption
provided by any of the cryptosystems can be determined using the correlation coeffi-
cient that is evaluated among similar signals between the original and cipher signal. It
is expressed as in (5)

Covðx; eÞ
rfxe ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ð5Þ
VarðxÞ VarðeÞ
1076 R. Nagakrishnan and A. Revathi

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

(g)

Fig. 3. (a) Waveforms of the original speech signal, (b) Waveforms of the Speech segment 1,
(c) Waveforms of the Speech segment 2, (d) Waveforms of the Speech segment 3, (e) Waveforms
of the Speech segment 4, (f) Waveforms of the Encrypted speech, (g) Waveforms of the
Decrypted speech

Where Cov(x, e) is the covariance between the original speech ‘x’ and the encrypted
speech ‘e’. Var(x) is the variance of the original speech. Var(e) is the variance of the
encrypted speech. The Var(x) is calculated as in (6)
 A Robust Speech Encryption System Based on DNA Addition and Chaotic Maps 1077

1 X Ns
VarðxÞ ¼ ðxðkÞ  EðxÞÞ2 ð6Þ
Ns k ¼ 1

E(x) is the mean of the signal x and computed as in (7)

1 X Ns
EðxÞ ¼ xðkÞ ð7Þ
Ns k¼1

The covariance between the x and e is computed as in (9)

1 X Ns
Covðx; eÞ ¼ ðxðkÞ  EðxÞÞðeðkÞ  EðeÞÞ ð8Þ
Ns k¼1

In Table 3, the correlation coefficient between the input speech and encrypted
speech and correlation coefficient between the input speech and decrypted speech are
shown. From these results, the correlation coefficient values are very low which
indicates that the encrypted sequence is totally random and highly correlated. The
obtained correlation coefficient value is unity thereby indicating that the decrypted
signal is completely retrieved back as same as the original signal.

Table 3. Correlation test

S. Speech file Correlation coefficient between Correlation coefficient between
no original speech and encrypted original speech and decrypted
speech speech
1 Julia.wav 0.000524796924 1
2 Lauren.wav 0.0016694499895 1
3 Claire.wav −0.004619215786 1
4 Mel.wav −0.000855832213 1
5 Ray.wav 0.0007546911379 1
6 Rich.wav 0.00376137 1

5.2 Signal to Noise Ratio Test

SNR test is a very useful method in evaluating the speech signal intelligibility.
Generally, the signal to noise ration can be expressed as in (10)

P
Ns
x2 ðkÞ
k¼1
SNR ¼ 10 log10 ð9Þ
P
Ns
2
ðxðkÞ  eðkÞÞ
k¼1
1078 R. Nagakrishnan and A. Revathi

eðkÞ is the encrypted speech signal. Table 4 provides the results of the signal to noise
ratio test for the six different speech signals. In our proposed system the SNR value
between original speech and encrypted speech is low; it shows that the encrypted
speech has been higher quality.

Table 4. Signal to Noise Ratio test

S. Speech file SNR between original speech and SNR between original speech and
no encrypted speech (db) decrypted speech (db)
1 Julia.wav −158.133766242255 Infinity
2 Lauren.wav −168.125903650785 Infinity
3 Claire.wav −169.395178910019 Infinity
4 Mel.wav −170.575910094628 Infinity
5 Ray.wav −169.828443016013 Infinity
6 Rich.wav −160.5676047093 Infinity

5.3 PSNR Test

The “Peak signal to noise ratio” is defined as the ratio of the highest power of input
speech sequence and the mean square error between the input and encrypted speech
[10]. The PSNR can be expressed as in (11)

nx2
PSNR ¼ 10 log10 ð10Þ
jjx  ejj2

Where ‘x’ denotes the highest power of the original speech signal. ‘n’ denotes the
length of encrypted speech. Whereas ‘x  e’ denotes the mean square error. The PSNR
value for all the six speech samples that are different from one another is described in
Table 5. In our proposed system the PSNR value between original speech and
encrypted speech is low; it shows that the encrypted speech has been higher quality.
The PSNR value between original speech and decrypted speech is infinity; it shows that
the entire input speech samples are recovered at the decryption.

Table 5. PSNR test

S. Speech file PSNR between original speech PSNR between original speech
no and encrypted speech (db) and decrypted speech (db)
1 Julia.wav −139.521242680432 Infinity
2 Lauren.wav −150.723705870739 Infinity
3 Claire.wav −151.514853254653 Infinity
4 Mel.wav −153.518944629710 Infinity
5 Ray.wav −152.789295493782 Infinity
6 Rich.wav −144.212022299861 Infinity
 A Robust Speech Encryption System Based on DNA Addition and Chaotic Maps 1079

5.4 Security Key Space Analysis

In general, the larger the key space provided by the encryption system should be great
to oppose the brute force attack. Using the small length key, the secured system is
broken into comprehensive search. It is called a brute force attack. It’s generally
accepted that a key space of size larger than 2128 is computationally secure against such
attack. In this proposed speech encryption system; the initial value and the chaotic
mapping control parameters have appeared as a secret key. The initial values X0, z, r1,
a, b, µ are the secret keys used in this encryption system. If the precision is 10−12, the
key space is 1012  1012  1012  1012  1012  1012 = 1072  2239. Therefore,
due to the danger of the brute force attack over the system can be neglected.

5.5 Histogram Analysis

A histogram is the graphical representation of speech samples variation. Considerable
quantity of information can be enumerated by the statistical attack opponent if the
graph is not flat enough. Henceforth; in cryptography a flat and uniform response is
very much desirable. The histogram result of the original speech is shown in Fig. 4(a).
Whereas the histogram results of encrypted speech and the histogram result of
decrypted speech are shown in Fig. 4(b) and (c) respectively. It is evident from the
information in Fig. 4(b) that the system projected shows a very flat variation or dis-
tribution of the encrypted speech signal. Therefore there is no effect of statistical attack
on the proposed encryption system.

(a)

(b)

(c)

Fig. 4. (a) Histogram of the original speech signal, (b) Histogram of the Encrypted speech
signal, (c) Histogram of the Decrypted speech signal
1080 R. Nagakrishnan and A. Revathi

6 Conclusion

Finally, this paper provides a methodology of speech encryption algorithm which is

based on DNA addition and chaotic mapping techniques. The process initially starts
with speech signal that is divided into four equal levels of speech segments. Each
speech segment is permuted and substituted by applying the different chaotic mapping
technique. Finally, the speech segments are encoded into DNA sequence and DNA
addition operation is performed. The permutation and two level substitutions give
better performance and quality. The results obtained from the simulation of the algo-
rithm deduced that the algorithm provides robustness, imperceptible and safe against
brute force attacks.

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