Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research IGD
Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research IGD

A sensor-based system for capturing psychological stresses at the workplace

SEBA – how stressed are we actually?

Responding to employers’ legal obligation to monitor psychological stresses at the workplace (in Germany and some other countries) and the fact that they are one of the main causes of absenteeism, the SEBA project set out to develop a system for objectively measuring stress.

Before this, psychological stresses associated with work were analyzed with the aid of multiple checklists, questionnaires, interviews and/or group sessions. But the answers received were subjective and evaluating them was time-consuming and work-intensive and also not entirely objective. This greatly limited their usefulness.

SEBA is designed to objectively measure psychological stresses and negative emotions, capture relevant environmental factors such as noise, lighting conditions, temperature etc., and discreetly visualize critical states to the user. In addition to giving users feedback in a multimedia format on a smartwatch, mobile phone, or PC, it also alerts employers to annoying ambient parameters such as flickering lights.

A headband was chosen as the sensor unit, since it permits easy capture of both environmental parameters and the user’s vital signs. The detected environmental parameters include ambient noise, lighting (brightness, color, and frequency), and air quality (pressure, CO2 content, currents, and relative humidity). The vital signs include, for example, the blinking rate (EOG), movement, brain activity (EEG), sweating (skin inductance), and heart activity (pulse rate and variability).

The data is sent to software that was specially developed for this project; it provides feedback to the user and information on environmental parameters (and possibly also measured vital signs) to the employer. Special attention has been paid to ensuring compliance with data privacy laws and respecting employees’ personality rights.

The system enables employers to analyze workplace conditions and users to reveal and take steps to alleviate critical factors.

Project partners

This project emerged from the Visual Computing Research and Innovation Center (VCRIC), a joint facility of the Fraunhofer Society and the University of Rostock at Fraunhofer IGD in Rostock. They collaborate closely to carry out basic research and apply the findings to study and develop applications, an approach that is typical of Fraunhofer institutes. The VCRIC was funded by the University of Rostock and the Department of Education, Science and Culture of the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

  • Hamburg Applications MES UG (HAMES), Hamburg
  • Healthcare X.0 GmbH, Potsdam
  • Hahn-Schickard-Gesellschaft für angewandte Forschung e.V., Villingen-Schwenningen