90% of autistic adults report that sensory issues cause significant barriers at school and work (Leekam et al., 2007). Wearable technologies (e.g., smart glasses) offer the possibility to monitor environments and adjust user-experiences. This project proposes applying such technologies to reduce anxiety-inducing distractions and create prompts that may increase autistic adults’ attentional-focus and quality-of-life.

SensorAble (\ˈsen-sȯr-əbəl — or alt. — \sen-ˈsȯr-əbəl) is a multi-disciplinary research project led by David. SensorAble proposes a multi-sensory, assistive technology that filters distractions and increases focus for autistic people. It fills a gap in scholarly knowledge regarding the exploration, design, application and testing of purpose-built wearable technologies that employ artificial intelligence for cognitive enhancement for autistic people, by increasing attentional focus and quality of life, and through de-emphasizing anxiety-inducing environmental distractions and over-stimulation.

SensorAble aims to distinguish itself from prior cognate studies in three respects. Prior research uses sensory technology that “interprets socioaffective cues such as tone of voice or facial expression to systematize and understand social interaction” (Kaliouby & Picard, 2006, 243). In contrast, SensorAble’s goal supports users by means of tuned awareness and customized intervention through alerts prior to the onset of anxiety, distraction or loss of focus by:

monitoring physiological responses and environmental disruptions and comparing them to a known and growing catalogue of individually learned distractions (e.g., those visual and aural sensations that create anxiety unique to each user);

adjusting the user experience by diminishing or eliminating visual disturbances, head sway (pupillary observation or inertial monitoring) and offending sounds (noise-cancelling, spatial focusing and frequency/amplitude corrections); and,

providing notification or anticipatory feedback through vibration and alerts (haptics) that aim to reduce or eliminate anxiety before onset.

If you would like to learn more about SensorAble, have any questions or would like to discuss the study in more detail, please contact David at david.ruttenberg.18@ucl.ac.uk.