The Window to Your Stress Response with Electrodermal Activity

Document Type

Presentation

Date of Original Version

3-27-2026

Abstract

The human body operates as an integrated network where physiological activities such as cardiovascular function, thermoregulation, and sweat gland responses interact together to sustain internal balance. Central to this regulation is the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS), which maintains internal homeostasis through its sympathetic and parasympathetic branches. Electrodermal activity (EDA) measures skin conductance changes driven by sweat gland activity. Since these glands are controlled exclusively by the sympathetic nervous system, EDA provides the most direct peripheral window into sympathetic arousal. Variations in skin conductance captured by EDA reflect mental stress, emotional arousal, and neuroendocrine responses, providing critical insights that heart rate monitoring alone cannot offer. To comprehensively assess these internal states, multimodal data collection is essential. Despite its potential, Electrodermal Activity (EDA) is underutilized in consumer wearables for diagnosis due to challenges like unstable sensor-skin contact, varying impedance, and difficulty distinguishing sympathetic responses from motion artifacts and individual differences. This work presents a multimodal framework that addresses these challenges by placing high-fidelity EDA at its center, integrated with photoplethysmogram (PPG) for heart rate and skin temperature (SKT) for thermoregulatory context. We developed a custom mobile EDA (mEDA) circuit utilizing a stabilized direct-current source. mEDA is validated through a 30-minute protocol on ten healthy participants, comparing it to the gold-standard BIOPAC MP160 system. The protocol included both relaxation and various stress-inducing tasks. The device accurately captures both tonic and phasic electrodermal activity (EDA), demonstrating a high degree of agreement with standard gel electrodes (correlation 0.92, coherence >0.95) and dry silver-knit textile electrodes (correlation 0.88). This work was presented at the IEEE BSN 2025 conference held at UCLA. Post-validation with healthy participants, the system was deployed at UMass Chan Medical school to monitor 20 patients during Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) withdrawal. Preliminary findings show elevated EDA amplitudes during later withdrawal stages, indicating increased sympathetic arousal; further data collection and analysis are ongoing. Building on these findings, we are developing adaptive gain control to dynamically compensate for inter-subject skin impedance variability and electrode-dependent impedance drift. These technical improvements support the development of Project Samya (named after the Sanskrit word for "equilibrium"), a wrist-worn jewelry wearable for women's hormonal health, particularly for those with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). The project aims to capture an integrated picture of hormonal changes over time by combining EDA with supportive biosignals. To validate these stress detection metrics, we are benchmarking the analysis against diurnal salivary cortisol results, utilizing swabs to map skin conductivity directly to hormonal stress burdens. This proposal was awarded the URI Enhancement of Graduate Research Award (EGRA), which supports the expansion of our research into the hormonal health domain. These early deployments confirm that, whether the body is managing substance withdrawal, daily psychological stress, or hormonal imbalances, its autonomic reactions can be captured continuously in everyday life. By accurately measuring these reactions through our validated framework, we empower individuals and clinicians to move beyond intermittent guesswork and truly understand autonomic health.

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS