Calming Tech - Explorations on Interactive Technology Design for Stress and Emotional Management

Опубликовано 28 июля 2016, 1:28

Stress has been regarded as an exacerbating factor for many physical and mental disorders. Stress management considers the detection and mitigation of stress. In this talk we will present the technology developed at the Berkeley Institute of Design to detect somatic stress signals and to help mitigate its effects. We will describe two sensing platforms, a wearable wireless device used to measure various biometrics, such as heart rate variability, and a voice-driven tool based on somatic and prosodic voice changes. We will present also results from a study on calming technologies based on social interactions, gaming and haptics. These exploratory results helped draw some initial conclusions around calming technology usability design principles. Complementary, we will present some visionary technology that could help improve engagement with traditional mental health tools such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and we will go over new ideas being developed to help the user be more aware of and regulate emotions.