Catch Your Breath - Musical Biofeedback for Breathing Regulation

Catch Your Breath is an interactive audiovisual bio-feedbacksystem adapted from a project designed to reduce respiratory irregularity in patients undergoing 4D CT scans for oncological diagnosis. The system is currently implementedand assessed as a potential means to reduce motion-induceddistortion in CT images.A museum installation based on the same principle wascreated in which an inexpensive wall-mounted web camera tracks an IR sensor embedded into a pendant worn bythe user. The motion of the subjects breathing is trackedand interpreted as a real-time variable tempo adjustment toa stored musical file. The subject can then adjust his/herbreathing to synchronize with a separate accompanimentline. When the breathing is regular and is at the desiredtempo, the audible result sounds synchronous and harmonious. The accompaniment's tempo progresses and gradually decrease which causes the breathing to synchronize andslow down, thus increasing relaxation.