Beyond Observation: Using Biometrically Controlled Experiences to Study the Brain and Body
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Speaker: Sarah Hill, CEO | Chief Storyteller, Healium
Bio: Sarah Hill is the CEO and Chief Storyteller of Healium, a neurotechnology company developing immersive experiences controlled by biometric data from the body and brain. A former television journalist and 12-time Mid-America Emmy Award winner, Hill has spent more than a decade exploring how emerging media can influence human emotion and behavior.
Under her leadership, Healium has developed patented virtual and augmented reality technologies that use signals such as EEG, heart rate, and HRV to allow users to see and interact with representations of their own physiological activity. Healium’s technology has been studied in multiple peer-reviewed publications, including research published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings and Frontiers in Psychology, and has been used by healthcare, research, military, and government organizations.
Abstract: Most digital health research measures what happens to a participant during or after an experience. But what if a participant’s own physiology could change the experience itself?
This session explores the emerging field of biometrically controlled immersive experiences, where signals such as EEG, heart rate, and heart rate variability (HRV) can dynamically alter virtual and spatial environments in real time. Sarah Hill will discuss how researchers can use these closed-loop experiences to investigate questions around self-regulation, stress, attention, relaxation, and the relationship between physiological signals and immersive stimuli.
Drawing from Healium’s work in immersive biofeedback and peer-reviewed research, the session will examine how researchers can use configurable biometric experiences to design studies, collect physiological data, compare interventions, and explore new research questions that are difficult to study with traditional static media. Attendees will also learn how research institutions can access Healium’s research platform and licenses to conduct their own studies using EEG, HRV, and heart-rate-responsive immersive experiences