research-article

Breathe Deep: A Breath-Sensitive Interactive Meditation Coach

Authors:

Ameneh Shamekhi,

Timothy BickmoreAuthors Info & Claims

PervasiveHealth '18: Proceedings of the 12th EAI International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare

Pages 108 - 117

https://doi.org/10.1145/3240925.3240940

Published: 21 May 2018 Publication History

Abstract

Mindfulness meditation has been demonstrated to be an effective approach for alleviating symptoms related to a variety of chronic health conditions, including pain, anxiety, and depression. Meditation takes practice and requires training, especially for novices, to learn mindfulness and emotion regulation. However, while face-to-face instructions can provide the best long-term results, many people cannot afford or schedule attendance at meditation classes. We present an automated conversational agent that acts as a virtual meditation coach that is interactive and adaptive to a user's breathing behavior, based on inputs from a respiration sensor in a meditation session. We designed and validated three interaction techniques based on the user's breathing. Results from two experimental studies demonstrate that users are highly receptive of the virtual coach technology, and appreciated the interactivity afforded by the respiration sensor. Participants also felt more relaxed when the meditation coach adapted the instructions to their breathing.

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Cited By

Dar SEkart ABernardet U(2025)Usability, acceptance, and the role of realism in virtual humans for breathing exercise trainingScientific Reports10.1038/s41598-024-82886-715:1Online publication date: 9-Jan-2025
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-82886-7
van Rheden VHarbour EFinkenzeller TMeschtscherjakov A(2024)Into the Rhythm: Evaluating Breathing Instruction Sound Experiences on the Run with Novice Female RunnersMultimodal Technologies and Interaction10.3390/mti80400258:4(25)Online publication date: 22-Mar-2024
https://doi.org/10.3390/mti8040025
Mitsea EDrigas ASkianis C(2024)Artificial Intelligence, Immersive Technologies, and Neurotechnologies in Breathing Interventions for Mental and Emotional Health: A Systematic ReviewElectronics10.3390/electronics1312225313:12(2253)Online publication date: 8-Jun-2024
https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13122253
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Index Terms

Breathe Deep: A Breath-Sensitive Interactive Meditation Coach
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)

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cover image ACM Other conferences

PervasiveHealth '18: Proceedings of the 12th EAI International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare

May 2018

413 pages

ISBN:9781450364508

DOI:10.1145/3240925

General Chairs:
Noga Minsky
Mount Sinai Health System
,
Venet Osmani
Fondazione Bruno Kessler

Copyright © 2018 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

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Published: 21 May 2018

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PervasiveHealth '18

PervasiveHealth '18: 12th EAI International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare

May 21 - 24, 2018

NY, New York, USA

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Cited By

Dar SEkart ABernardet U(2025)Usability, acceptance, and the role of realism in virtual humans for breathing exercise trainingScientific Reports10.1038/s41598-024-82886-715:1Online publication date: 9-Jan-2025
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-82886-7
van Rheden VHarbour EFinkenzeller TMeschtscherjakov A(2024)Into the Rhythm: Evaluating Breathing Instruction Sound Experiences on the Run with Novice Female RunnersMultimodal Technologies and Interaction10.3390/mti80400258:4(25)Online publication date: 22-Mar-2024
https://doi.org/10.3390/mti8040025
Mitsea EDrigas ASkianis C(2024)Artificial Intelligence, Immersive Technologies, and Neurotechnologies in Breathing Interventions for Mental and Emotional Health: A Systematic ReviewElectronics10.3390/electronics1312225313:12(2253)Online publication date: 8-Jun-2024
https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13122253
Gemicioglu TViranda TZhao YYessenbayev OArora JWang JLopes PAdams AChoudhury T(2024)BreathePulse: Peripheral Guided Breathing via Implicit Airflow Cues for Information WorkProceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies10.1145/37022118:4(1-33)Online publication date: 21-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3702211
Theodore GHuang JCheng LHung Y(2024)Breathm: A Calm Device with Personalized Slow Breathing GuidanceExtended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613905.3650943(1-5)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613905.3650943
Rasouli SGhafurian MNilsen EDautenhahn K(2024)University Students’ Opinions on Using Intelligent Agents to Cope with Stress and Anxiety in Social SituationsComputers in Human Behavior10.1016/j.chb.2023.108072153:COnline publication date: 12-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.chb.2023.108072
Mendu SDoyle Fosco SLanza SAbdullah S(2023)Designing voice interfaces to support mindfulness-based pain managementDIGITAL HEALTH10.1177/205520762312044189Online publication date: 19-Oct-2023
https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076231204418
Gamboa MBaytaş MHendriks SLjungblad S(2023)Wisp: Drones as Companions for BreathingProceedings of the Seventeenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction10.1145/3569009.3572740(1-16)Online publication date: 26-Feb-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3569009.3572740
van Rheden VHarbour EFinkenzeller TMeschtscherjakov A(2023)Breath Tools: Exploring the Effects on Adherence and User Experience of 4 Sounds Assisting Runners with Coupling Breath to StepsExtended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544549.3585736(1-7)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544549.3585736
Zheng QHuang Y(2023)"Begin with the End in Mind": Incorporating UX Evaluation Metrics into Design Materials of Participatory DesignExtended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544549.3585664(1-7)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544549.3585664
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