Glasgow team channels good vibes to tackle stress

The Glasgow team investigated whether objects that pulse or vibrate in patterns that replicate soothing rhythms like purring cats or raindrops could provide emotional assistance during stressful situations. It was found that uniquely shaped handheld objects which vibrate in ways that evoke personal emotional resonance for people may help to reduce the intensity of their feelings of anxiety in social situations. The work is published in ACM Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction.

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“Social Anxiety Disorder can be a debilitating experience for the 12 per cent of the population who will experience it at some point during their lives,” said research lead Dr Shaun Macdonald, from the University of Glasgow’s School of Computing Science. “It reduces their ability to function in everyday situations and negatively affects their quality of life. 

“Listening to calming music or meditating, for example, can sometimes help people reduce their anxiety but it’s not practical to put on headphones or find a quiet corner in the middle of most social situations. What we wanted to explore in this study was whether a handheld, silently-vibrating device could help reduce people’s stress levels to help support them during social interaction without others noticing.”