The Haptic PTSD Project is an innovative Android application designed to provide immediate, non-invasive support for individuals managing PTSD and sleep-related distress. By combining tactile grounding techniques with advanced on-device sensing and color-coded visual feedback, the app offers a digital "anchor" during moments of anxiety or restlessness.
The application aims to provide physiological regulation through:
- Active Heartbeat Mode: Immediate grounding triggered by either a physical squeeze or a sharp "wrist snap" movement.
- Bilateral Beat Player: Immersive, synchronized haptics that follow the rhythm of your own audio tracks, using multiple analysis profiles (Bass, Drum, Guitar, Amplitude).
- Background Operation: Designed to work while the app is out of focus or the screen is off, providing continuous support as you drift off to sleep.
- Privacy-Centric Monitoring: Continuous sensing of triggers using local, private analysis that never sends data to the cloud.
A primary therapeutic feature where the user activates a comforting, rhythmic "heartbeat" vibration by squeezing their phone or using a sharp wrist movement. This mimics the calming effect of human touch or pulse-syncing, helping to break cycles of panic or distress even when lying in bed. Now supports extensible haptic patterns for more personalized feedback.
Analyze any audio file from your library to generate a custom haptic profile. The app uses advanced signal processing to "feel" the music, providing synchronized tactile feedback that matches the intensity and duration of detected transients.
- Advanced Controls: Full playback control including Repeat (One/All), Next/Previous track, Playback Speed (0.5x to 2.0x), and a 1.5x Volume Boost.
- Live Profile Switching: Switch between Bass, Drum, Guitar, and Amplitude profiles seamlessly during playback. The haptics update instantly to match the new profile.
- Animated Interface: Reordering of the tool portions is now animated for a more fluid, " fidget-like" experience.
The app is designed to be inclusive, responsive, and tactilely rich:
- Collapsible Settings Cards: All settings sections are now collapsible via
SectionCard, with primary therapeutic cards expanded by default for quick access. - Centralized Animations: A dedicated animation framework ensures consistent, smooth transitions and effects across the application.
- Customizable Typography: Adjust Heading, Regular, Title, Button, and Notation font sizes independently via a dedicated Accessibility card.
- Application Haptic Signatures: Every interaction—snapping a slider, toggling a switch, or clicking a button—has a distinct tactile signature.
A high-resolution, 32-band frequency visualizer available in-app and via persistent notification. It supports independent, overlapping layers that can be toggled in settings.
Built for the most sensitive contexts, all detection and analysis happen locally on the device. No audio or sensor data is recorded permanently or sent to external servers, ensuring total user confidentiality.
- UI: Jetpack Compose (Material 3) with real-time dynamic theming and centralized animation definitions.
- Logic: Kotlin / Coroutines / Channel-based Task Queueing.
- Sensing: Acoustic Pressure Detection (sonar-based) & Linear Acceleration.
- Background: Android Foreground Service with WakeLock and persistent status notifications.
- Signal Processing: JTransforms (FFT) / Adaptive Transient Detection.
- Persistence: JSON-based haptic profiles and reactive SharedPreferences.
- Android 11 (API 30) or higher.
- Physical device required for haptic and sensor functionality.