Design of a Multisensory Stimulus Delivery System for Investigating Response Trajectories in Infancy

Sensory processing differences, including auditory, visual, and tactile, are ideal targets for early detection of neurodevelopmental risk. However, existing studies focus on the audiovisual paradigm but ignore the sense of touch. In this work, we present a multisensory delivery system that can deliver audiovisual stimuli and precisely controlled tactile stimuli to infants in a synchronized manner. The system also records multi-dimensional data including eye gaze and physiological data. A pilot study of six 3–8 month old infants was conducted to investigate the tolerability and feasibility of the system. Results have shown that the system is well tolerated by infants and all the data were collected robustly. This work paves the way for future studies charting the meaning of sensory response trajectories in infancy.