Nuanic: EDA-Based Smart Ring for Burnout and Stress Management

Hi HN! I’m Ville, CTO of Nuanic, a Finnish company developing a smart ring that tracks stress using Electrodermal Activity (EDA) rather than the more common Heart Rate Variability (HRV). EDA provides a direct measurement of the body’s stress response, making it particularly effective for detecting and managing chronic stress.

EDA has been an underutilized metric in wearables, largely because interpreting the raw signal is challenging - it’s messy and difficult to make sense of. To address this, we’ve developed our own algorithm that transforms the EDA data into an easy-to-understand number from 1 to 100, which we call DNE (Double Normalized EDA). On this scale, 1 represents low stress and 100 represents high stress, making it simple to track stress levels, identify trends, and take action to recover when needed.

The ring measures 24/7, providing real-time feedback around the clock, and all of this is done without any cloud requirement. Continuous monitoring lets you see how your stress and recovery fluctuate throughout the day and night, helping you make informed decisions to improve your well-being - whether that’s adjusting your workload, taking breaks, or prioritizing rest.

Research has shown a strong connection between EDA and burnout, and the ring has been designed to help with burnout detection and prevention. If you’re interested in the details, you can check out our preprint here: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4726455.

This isn’t just theoretical - I’ve experienced burnout in the past, and this technology has been invaluable in helping me avoid it since. It helps me ensure I get enough recovery, which is the key to managing stress effectively. Being able to track my recovery has made a huge difference in maintaining balance and preventing burnout from happening again.

The ring is also being used in long COVID recovery studies, where its ability to monitor stress and recovery continuously is being made use of. While the results haven’t been published yet, the ongoing research highlights the potential of the ring in supporting recovery from complex, long-term conditions.

Would love to hear your thoughts or answer any questions about it!