Tracking mental health

Researchers at New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering have come one step closer to creating a wearable device that can track mental health.

For the past seven years, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering Rose Faghih has developed technology that measures certain brain activity directly connected to a person’s emotional state — specifically electrodermal activity (EDA), through the skin.

EDA is an electrical phenomenon of the skin that changes based on certain emotional stressors. For example, stress caused by pain, exhaustion or being rushed at work can change a person’s EDA.