Sensorily Stressed: Using Virtual Reality Technology to Examine the Relationship between Sensory Sensitivities and Anxiety

Anxiety is becoming increasingly problematic in modern-day society. It is negatively impacting our societal and individual well-being, as well as costing the US economy over $35 billion because of increased healthcare demands and people working less effectively. One of the sources of this anxiety is our senses, where some people find that they respond too strongly to everyday environments. This is most common in autistic people but is also found throughout the population. There are competing theories describing the relationship between the senses and anxiety, but most of their key studies have used surveys. The aim of this project is to use experiments in Virtual Reality to test the key predictions of these theories. The first steps will be developing virtual environments in which we can test the participants and successfully make them more or less anxious. Once this has been done, it will be possible to test the extent to which sensory sensitivities lead to anxiety versus the other way around. These findings will be immediately applicable to help people suffering from severe anxiety caused by their sensory environment. In the long term, in collaboration with the pre-existing community and industrial partners of the research group, wider changes will be made to help the mildly affected. This will lead to children and working adults leading healthier, happier, and more productive lives.