Device for controlling the phasic relationship between melodic sound and respiration and its effect on the change in respiration rate

Music is one of the most powerful mediators of awareness enhancement and respiration control. Although the timing (phase) control between music and respiration is important, few studies have focused on this. This study investigated the phasic relationship between melodic sound and respiration (PRSR) using a device that controls the PRSR. The interaction between music and respiration was realised in the phase by setting the template of the respiration pattern, called the ‘target phase’, which served as a guideline for coordinating the melodic phrase and respiration. In this experiment, we modelled six PRSR conditions by changing the start of the target phase. Participants were made to listen to cyclic melodies under the six PRSR conditions to examine the effect on their respiration interval. To modify the individual differences between participants, we realigned the PRSR conditions for each participant based on the error size between the respiration and target phases. We found a significant difference in the respiration intervals between the six realigned PRSR conditions, indicating the impact of the PRSR on the respiration rate and our effective control of PRSR. Our findings will help promote digital emotion regulation in the future, especially when using respiration as an input of feedback.