App acts as a biofeedback system

A University of Virgina graduate student has developed a biofeedback-based system that helps smartphones in selecting music that can help users to control their heartbeat.

“Whenever I am driving, jogging, traveling, or relaxing – I never find the appropriate music to listen to,” said Shahriar Nirjon, a computer science doctoral student in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Virginia. “I believe there are many like me. The problem is: The heart wants to hear something, but our music player does not understand the need. My joy was in connecting them together – in a noninvasive and cost-effective way.”

The app, called Musical Heart, uses a microphone, built into specially made earphones, that detects the pulse in arteries in the ear to select music that optimize the heart rate of an individual based on a given activity. For example, fast-paced music is selected for hard workouts, while slow music is selected for cool-downs. An algorithm refines the music selection process by storing heart rate data and calculating the effects of selected music on the rate, improving its music selections over time.

Mr Nirjon will present his system at the 10th Association for Computing Machinery Conference on Embedded Networked Sensor Systems (SenSys 2012), being held this week in Toronto. His paper describing the system has been accepted for publication in the conference’s proceedings.