Profiling visual and verbal stress responses using electrodermal heart rate and hormonal measures

Assessing psychological stress is essential for monitoring general health and wellbeing. One key element is the detection of the stimulus, i.e., stressor that evokes a stress response. Visual and verbal stimuli are elementary arousal elements of daily stress responses. The study aim was to discriminate the stress responses from watching videos and speaking using electrodermal activity (EDA) and heart rate variability (HRV) measures. A cohort of 12 subjects completed a laboratory experiment comprising of 4 psychological tasks (watching a relaxing video and a violent video, speaking by counting and speaking on an unknown topic). In total, 17 physiological features were calculated from the EDA and HRV signals. Four classifiers were investigated regarding their ability to discriminate between verbal and visual stimulated stress responses with a maximum accuracy of 92% achieved. This demonstrates that the measured signals have potential for tracking and differentiating the stress responses of watching videos or speaking in real-time by using wearable EDA and HRV devices.