Skin Conductance Under Acoustic Stimulation: Analysis by a Portable Device

Skin Conductance (SC) variations, or, alternatively, changes of the human skin resistance known as Galvanic Skin Response (GSR), allow to detect the physiological reactions of a subject to different stimuli, either physical, or emotional and cognitive. This paper presents the analysis of SC variations under acoustic stimulation, performed by using a low-cost portable device designed for experimental use, able to acquire the human skin resistance values, which can be easily converted into SC ones. Preliminary findings, despite not generalizable because of the small set of participants involved in experiments, suggest that the reaction to sounds perceived as not pleasant is quite clear to identify, while further investigations are needed for acoustic stimuli classified as pleasant.