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Breathe : development and design of a wearable for resonant breathing coaching with tactile feedback

Kapoor, R. (2023) Breathe : development and design of a wearable for resonant breathing coaching with tactile feedback.

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Abstract:Heart rate variability (HRV) describes the fluctuations of time between heart beats in milliseconds. It can be used as a marker of physiological and mental health as higher levels of HRV are indicative of a healthy heart and less stressed mental state. Resonance frequency breathing is a breathing technique that represents breathing between the ranges of 4.5 breaths per minute - 6.5 breaths per minute, and is hypothesised to be a pathway through which biofeedback improves heart rate variability. Haptic feedback has been shown to be effective in many studies for breath guidance and is the most employed feedback modality in modern-day wearables. The purpose of this master thesis was to explore the possibilities to support breathing by haptic stimulation only, which led to the research question: How to design a haptic feedback wearable for breathing guidance through heart rate variability training? The grove earclip sensor was used as the PPG sensor in this project and was employed to measure heart rate and heart rate variability as well as to estimate the breathing rate. This research conducted a within-subject experiment with 15 participants over the span of three weeks to evaluate the comfort, effectiveness and intuitiveness of an adjustable haptic belt with three patterns on three body positions. The results showed that whilst there were no significant results between the placements and patterns on heart rate variability, breathing with the haptic caused a significant difference in the HRV (RMSSD) of patients (p = 0.03), as opposed to breathing without it. The participants kept to the actuated breathing rate of the belt with an average deviation of 0.86 breaths per minute, which showed promising results of the participants understanding and interpreting the haptic cues from the belt.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:EEMCS: Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
Subject:02 science and culture in general, 50 technical science in general, 53 electrotechnology
Programme:Interaction Technology MSc (60030)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/94335
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