The science

The science behind SoundFidget

Why touch, rhythm and sound work so well together, and how we built on it.

Informed by 17 peer-reviewed studies on touch, rhythm and multisensory feedback.

01

Touch that answers

Responsive, predictable feedback gives restless hands a place to land.

What we built

Every touch gets an immediate answer, and the same movement always gets a similar one. One finger or five, drag, tap or hold: the surface responds the way your hand expects, so it becomes something to hold on to.

What the research shows

Feeling in control of what happens next eases anxiety. In an fMRI study, people who believed they controlled identical pain stimuli reported less anxiety and showed lower activity in the amygdala, the brain's alarm centre [1].

Hands have always looked for something to do under pressure. Autistic adults describe repetitive movement as a way to soothe and regulate intense feelings [2], and design research describes fidget objects as tools for self-regulation through the body [3].

Touch itself is calming. Across 137 studies, touch interventions reduced pain, anxiety and depression in adults, and touch from objects helped too [4]. Even a hand on your own chest lowered the body's cortisol response to stress [5].

References

  1. Salomons TV, et al. (2015). Neural emotion regulation circuitry underlying anxiolytic effects of perceived control over pain. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 27(2), 222–233. doi:10.1162/jocn_a_00702fMRI experiment, n=52
  2. Kapp SK, et al. (2019). 'People should be allowed to do what they like': Autistic adults' views and experiences of stimming. Autism, 23(7), 1782–1792. doi:10.1177/1362361319829628Qualitative study, n=32
  3. Karlesky M, Isbister K (2016). Understanding Fidget Widgets: Exploring the Design Space of Embodied Self-Regulation. Proceedings of the 9th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (NordiCHI '16). doi:10.1145/2971485.2971557Design research
  4. Packheiser J, et al. (2024). A systematic review and multivariate meta-analysis of the physical and mental health benefits of touch interventions. Nature Human Behaviour, 8(6), 1088–1107. doi:10.1038/s41562-024-01841-8Meta-analysis, 137 studies
  5. Dreisoerner A, et al. (2021). Self-soothing touch and being hugged reduce cortisol responses to stress: A randomized controlled trial on stress, physical touch, and social identity. Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology, 8, 100091. doi:10.1016/j.cpnec.2021.100091Randomised trial, n=159

02

Three senses, one signal

When sound, vibration and light arrive together, your brain reads them as one strong, clear signal.

What we built

Sound, haptics and light are tuned together and fire at the same moment, under your finger. Each world moves all three in the same direction: a soft world sounds soft, taps softly and glows softly. It feels like one material, not three effects.

What the research shows

Your brain doesn't treat the senses separately. When what you see and what you feel describe the same thing, it fuses them into one estimate, weighting each sense by how reliable it is [1].

Signals that line up in time and space are processed as a single event, and that combined signal produces a stronger response than either sense on its own [2]. That is why SoundFidget never lets sound, vibration and light drift apart.

References

  1. Ernst MO, Banks MS (2002). Humans integrate visual and haptic information in a statistically optimal fashion. Nature, 415(6870), 429–433. doi:10.1038/415429aPsychophysics experiment
  2. Stein BE, Stanford TR (2008). Multisensory integration: current issues from the perspective of the single neuron. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 9(4), 255–266. doi:10.1038/nrn2331Review

03

Rhythm that slows you down

Slow, steady rhythms invite your movements and your breath to follow.

What we built

Every world has its own haptic rhythm from the iPhone's Taptic Engine. Fast, restless movement gets a heavier, grounded response; as you slow down, the rhythm softens and slows with you. Breathe, a guided slow-breathing mode you follow with both thumbs, is coming soon.

What the research shows

A slow rhythm you can feel is calming. In a single-blind trial, a slow, heartbeat-like vibration on the wrist lowered anxiety and the skin's stress response before a public speech, compared with the same device switched off [1].

Slow breathing, around six breaths a minute, raises heart rate variability, a marker of the body's rest-and-digest system. A meta-analysis of 223 studies found this during a session, right after it and across multi-session programs [2], in line with an earlier systematic review [3]. The likely mechanism is the baroreflex, the body's blood-pressure feedback loop [4].

It shows up in how people feel. Breathwork reduced stress compared with control conditions across randomised trials [5], most breathing practices in a review of 58 studies reduced stress or anxiety [6], a single 15-minute session at about six breaths a minute improved mood and lowered blood pressure during a stress task [7], and five minutes a day of breathing with long exhales improved mood over a month [8].

References

  1. Azevedo RT, et al. (2017). The calming effect of a new wearable device during the anticipation of public speech. Scientific Reports, 7, 2285. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-02274-2Single-blind randomised trial, n=52; funded by the device maker
  2. Laborde S, et al. (2022). Effects of voluntary slow breathing on heart rate and heart rate variability: A systematic review and a meta-analysis. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 138, 104711. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104711Meta-analysis, 223 studies
  3. Zaccaro A, et al. (2018). How Breath-Control Can Change Your Life: A Systematic Review on Psycho-Physiological Correlates of Slow Breathing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12, 353. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2018.00353Systematic review
  4. Lehrer PM, Gevirtz R (2014). Heart rate variability biofeedback: how and why does it work?. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 756. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00756Review of mechanisms
  5. Fincham GW, et al. (2023). Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: A meta-analysis of randomised-controlled trials. Scientific Reports, 13, 432. doi:10.1038/s41598-022-27247-yMeta-analysis of randomised trials
  6. Bentley TGK, et al. (2023). Breathing Practices for Stress and Anxiety Reduction: Conceptual Framework of Implementation Guidelines Based on a Systematic Review of the Published Literature. Brain Sciences, 13(12), 1612. doi:10.3390/brainsci13121612Systematic review, 58 studies
  7. Steffen PR, et al. (2017). The Impact of Resonance Frequency Breathing on Measures of Heart Rate Variability, Blood Pressure, and Mood. Frontiers in Public Health, 5, 222. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2017.00222Lab experiment, n=95
  8. Balban MY, et al. (2023). Brief structured respiration practices enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal. Cell Reports Medicine, 4(1), 100895. doi:10.1016/j.xcrm.2022.100895Randomised trial, n=108

04

Sound that settles

Every world is composed to bring the intensity down, never up.

What we built

Every world has its own soft, tonal sound that follows your finger. No beat to keep up with, no lyrics, nothing that demands attention. Pitch and character change with where and how you touch, and the sound eases as you do.

What the research shows

Music is a well-established way to bring stress down. Across 104 randomised trials, music interventions reduced stress, both in the body and in how people felt [1].

Soft, textural, "satisfying" sound has its own pull. In people who respond to it, ASMR content lowered heart rate and lifted mood [2].

References

  1. de Witte M, et al. (2020). Effects of music interventions on stress-related outcomes: a systematic review and two meta-analyses. Health Psychology Review, 14(2), 294–324. doi:10.1080/17437199.2019.1627897Meta-analysis, 104 randomised trials
  2. Poerio GL, et al. (2018). More than a feeling: Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is characterized by reliable changes in affect and physiology. PLoS ONE, 13(6), e0196645. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0196645Online study (n=1,002) and lab study