Linear and non-linear measures of heart rate variability (HRV) are widely investigated as non-invasive indicators of health. Stress has a profound impact on heart rate, and different meditation techniques have been found to modulate heartbeat rhythm. This paper aims to explore the process of identifying appropriate metrices from HRV analysis for sonification. Sonification is a type of auditory display involving the process of mapping data to acoustic parameters. This work explores the use of auditory display in aiding the analysis of HRV leveraged by unsupervised machine learning techniques. Unsupervised clustering helps select the appropriate features to improve the sonification interpretability. Vocal synthesis sonification techniques are employed to increase comprehension and learnability of the processed data displayed through sound. These analyses are early steps in building a real-time sound-based biofeedback training system.

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BackgroundChildren in Palestine may be at high risk for anxiety symptoms. However, access to mental health services is limited. Therefore, the objective of this study was to conduct a pilot randomized controlled trial to examine whether a guided audiovisual paced breathing intervention was feasible, acceptable, and improved anxiety symptoms in Palestinian children.MethodsStudents (6–10 years old) in an after‐school program in Palestine were randomly assigned to the intervention or control condition. All participants completed a pre‐ and post‐intervention measure of anxiety using the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale. Participants in the intervention completed 24 sessions over 8 weeks and rated breathing ease as well as pre‐ and post‐session relaxation on a 5‐point Likert scale. To examine condition differences in post‐intervention anxiety, four analyses of covariance were conducted, adjusting for age, sex, and pre‐intervention anxiety.ResultsA total of 144 participants (65.3% girls; Mage = 7.5 ± 1.2; 50% per condition) enrolled in the study. There were no differences in demographics or baseline anxiety between the two conditions (ps > .05). Participants reported that it was easy to breathe during the sessions (Ms = 4.1–4.7, SDs = 0.5–1.1). For all but the first session, participants reported being more relaxed after the breathing session than before (ps < .003). Post‐intervention, participants in the intervention reported fewer anxiety symptoms compared to participants in the control condition (ps < .01).ConclusionA guided paced breathing audiovisual intervention was feasible and had a significant positive impact on anxiety symptoms in Palestinian children compared to a control condition. Future research should examine whether the audiovisual guided breathing intervention significantly improves long‐term outcomes.