Sensory Fiction

Sensory Fiction is designed for use by individuals with sensory processing disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism.  It is a project from researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology which enables authors to provide their readers with physical feedback and sensations while they’re in the process of turning the pages. It combines a vest harness with a smartbook that can send over commands and light up on cue. For example, the Sensory Fiction prototype is a vest that plugs into a computerized copy of Tiptree's novella. Controlled by an Arduino microprocessor, the vest swells, contracts, vibrates, heats up or cools down as the pages of the book are turned. As the protagonist of the story comes into conflict, the vest mirrors her physical or emotional changes in the reader. A particularly sad page might cause the vest's in-built air bags to expand, rendering the reader tight chested; when the plot heats up, the vest might make a reader sweat.