Multimodal sensory interaction has become increasingly prevalent in digital and interactive stress-relief design. However, existing studies have primarily focused on individual sensory modalities or specific therapeutic approaches, with limited systematic comparison of multisensory interaction patterns across different therapeutic design contexts. This study adopts a qualitative comparative research approach integrating a structured literature review and cross-case analysis. Representative cases were collected from interactive products, mobile applications, virtual reality environments, and therapeutic interactive installations. Through thematic coding and design-feature analysis, ten multimodal therapeutic interaction patterns were identified and further organized into three categories: regulation-oriented, expression-oriented, and connection-oriented patterns. Based on these findings, a multimodal perceptual analytical framework was developed comprising three dimensions: sensory engagement (visual, auditory, and tactile), interaction characteristics, and user involvement. Comparative analysis revealed that regulation-oriented designs commonly employ auditory–visual integration to facilitate relaxation and physiological regulation, whereas connection-oriented designs place greater emphasis on tactile interaction to support emotional attachment and social connectedness. In addition, nature-inspired and mindfulness-based approaches, despite sharing similar therapeutic objectives, exhibit distinct sensory configurations and interaction structures. The findings demonstrate how different multisensory configurations contribute to stress-relief experiences and provide a design-oriented analytical framework for UX/UI design, digital wellbeing applications, therapeutic interactive media, and digitally mediated therapeutic environments. The study also contributes to understanding digitally mediated wellbeing practices from the perspective of multimodal interaction design.

Authors:
Yuen Fei Wong, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Taiwan
Wen Shan Chang, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Taiwan

About the Presenter(s)
Yuen-Fei Wong (b. May 2, 2001, Hong Kong) is a graduate of YunTech with a B.A. in Digital Media Design and currently a master's candidate in the same program.

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