Using music as a signal for biofeedback

Authors
Ilias Bergstrom(a,b), Sofia Seinfeld(a), Jorge Arroyo-Palacios(b), Mel Slater(b,c), Maria V. Sanchez-Vives(a,c)

a. Institut de Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Barcelona, Spain
b. EVENT Lab, Facultat de Psicologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
c. Institució Catalana Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain

Abstract
Studies on the potential benefits of conveying biofeedback stimulus using a musical signal have appeared in recent years with the intent of harnessing the strong effects that music listening may have on subjects. While results are encouraging, the fundamental question has yet to be addressed, of how combined music and biofeedback compares to the already established use of either of these elements separately. This experiment, involving young adults (N = 24), compared the effectiveness at modulating participants’ states of physiological arousal of each of the following conditions: A) listening to pre-recorded music, B) sonification biofeedback of the heart rate, and C) an algorithmically modulated musical feedback signal conveying the subject’s heart rate. Our hypothesis was that each of the conditions (A), (B) and (C) would differ from the other two in the extent to which it enables participants to increase and decrease their state of physiological arousal, with (C) being more effective than (B), and both more than (A). Several physiological measures and qualitative responses were recorded and analyzed. Results show that using musical biofeedback allowed participants to modulate their state of physiological arousal at least equally well as sonification biofeedback, and much better than just listening to music, as reflected in their heart rate measurements, controlling for respiration-rate. Our findings indicate that the known effects of music in modulating arousal can therefore be beneficially harnessed when designing a biofeedback protocol.

Keywords
Biofeedback; Music; Combined intervention; Arousal modulation; Sonification

Highlights
• The efficacy of biofeedback controlled music on arousal modulation was studied.
• Algorithmically generated music allowed continuous control of musical parameters.
• Arousal modulation by music listening and sonification biofeedback were also tested.
• Path analysis found sonification and music biofeedback to be similarly effective.
• Biofeedback methods were more effective in arousal modulation than music alone.

Journal
International Journal of Psychophysiology
Volume 93, Issue 1, July 2014, Pages 140–149

doi
10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2013.04.013