The invention relates to a method and an apparatus (1) for optically differentiating objects.The inventive method comprises the steps of:- Illuminating a scattering medium with a light beam (30) from a light source (3), wherein an object (10) to be differentiated moves in the light beam (30) so that light modulated by the object (10) hits the scattering medium- Registering the light scattered by the scattering medium with low-coherence interferometry (4) and- Analyzing the registered scattered light for patterns in intensity and/or phase changes caused by the moving object (10) in order to differentiate the object (10).The inventive apparatus (1) comprises a light source (3), a scattering base (2) comprising a scattering medium, a low-coherence interferometry detection device (4) and an evaluation unit (5), wherein the light source (3) is configured to illuminate the scattering base (2), the low-coherence interferometry detection device (4) is configured to detect the light scattered by the scattering base (2), and an object path (90) that is non-parallel to the light beam (31) of the light source (3) is arranged between the light source (3) and the scattering base (2), wherein the evaluation unit (5) is configured to analyze the changes in intensity and/or phase in the light scattered by the scattering base (2) and detected by the detection device (4) for patterns that are caused by an object (10) moving along the object path (90).
