Portable Silent Room: Exploring VR Design for Anxiety and Emotion Regulation for Neurodivergent Women and Non-Binary Individuals

TL;DR

This paper develops and evaluates a portable VR environment tailored for neurodivergent women and non-binary individuals to aid emotional regulation, addressing sensory overload and promoting relaxation through inclusive design.

Contribution

It introduces a novel, adaptable VR prototype serving as a portable silent room for neurodivergent individuals, based on mixed-methods research and iterative testing.

Findings

VR prototypes improved emotional regulation for users

Participants reported increased relaxation and sensory comfort

Design elements tailored to individual needs enhanced effectiveness

Abstract

Neurodivergent individuals, particularly those with Autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), frequently experience anxiety, panic attacks, meltdowns, and emotional dysregulation due to societal pressures and inadequate accommodations. These challenges are especially pronounced for neurodivergent women and non-binary individuals navigating intersecting barriers of neurological differences and gender expectations. This research investigates virtual reality (VR) as a portable safe space for emotional regulation, addressing challenges of sensory overload and motion sickness while enhancing relaxation capabilities. Our mixed-methods approach included an online survey (N=223) and an ideation workshop (N=32), which provided key design elements for creating effective calming VR environments. Based on these findings, we developed and iteratively tested VR prototypes with neurodivergent women and non-binary participants (N=12), leading to a final version offering enhanced adaptability to individual sensory needs. This final prototype underwent a comprehensive evaluation with 25 neurodivergent participants to assess its effectiveness as a regulatory tool. This research contributes to the development of inclusive, adaptive VR environments that function as personalized "portable silent rooms" offering neurodivergent individuals on-demand access to sensory regulation regardless of physical location.