Electrodermal activity: A continuous monitor of well-being

Abstract

A smart society should not only support the efficiency and effectiveness of processes, they should also have the ability to comprehend and support its inhabitants well-being. To enable this, we need continuous information on individual’s well-being. As a first step, we suggest to evaluate people’s long term stress level, as it sheds light on their well-being. We propose using the biosignal Electrodermal Activity (EDA), a proven measure of people’s arousal or stress. Moreover, EDA can be measured continuously, in real-time, and unobtrusively via wearables. To assess this idea’s feasibility, the CASE, CEAP-360VR, and K-EmoCon datasets, including both continuous EDA recordings and continuous subjective self-reported arousal, were analyzed. With CASE and CEAP-360VR, a multilevel analysis unveiled that the frequency and amplitude of EDA’s non-specific skin conductance responses significantly correlated with the self-reported arousal. With K-EmoCon, this correlation was absent, which can be explained by the low arousal condition of this dataset. The latter also signals a main limitation: the lack of sensitivity of the proposed signal. Nevertheless, the results are promising as they show potential for EDA as a continuous stress monitor. Therefore, we are optimistic that a future smart society can be enabled to monitor and improve their inhabitant’s well-being.