Active sensing system for measuring distress level using mood induction music

Excessive stress could lead to mental disorders, and in worst cases, suicide. It is important to properly understand self-mental health conditions to prevent stress induced disorders. Recent studies have investigated this issue by developing stress indices for measuring stress levels by using physiological signals and behavioral features. However, in applying these technologies to real life, many factors, such as concentration on tasks, which relates to “eustress,” and environmental conditions can impact these stress indices, making it difficult to presume an actual “distress” level. To solve this problem, we propose a new distress sensing system: active sensing system. In this system, users are exposed to emotional stimuli and are expected to respond psychologically depending on their distress levels. We developed this system using mood induction music as the emotional stimuli. We established that these psychological responses, which hardly appear in normal conditions, lead to behavioral responses that reflect distress levels.