Wearable Measurement of Breathing for Music Performance

Abstract

Research confirms that wearable technology has a positive impact on athletes’ performance. Musicians and athletes share similar physical demands, including musculoskeletal stresses caused by frequent and repetitive usage. Despite sharing similar physical demands, wearable technology is not yet an integral part of the musician’s training environment. In response to this lack of technology use by musicians, we designed, developed, and gamified a low-cost, easy-to-use, and meaningful wearable device for wind players, the Abdominal Thoracic Expansion Measurement Prototype wearable device (ATEMP). The ATEMP measures wind players’ breathing-induced abdominal and ribcage expansion and contraction while they are playing, and provides real-time biofeedback on players’ breathing technique. We ran studies to validate the device and establish the value of such wearable technology use as part of the musician’s training environment with regard to performance optimization. The results of the studies were positive and underlined the need and relevance of this research. A Validation study confirmed that data generated by the ATEMP compares favourably with that of the industry’s gold standard. An Observational study showed there is a correlation between a musician’s breathing technique and their quality of performance. The gamification of the ATEMP and the subsequent Gamification study, show promising results and provide motivation for further investigation. The feedback of the participants throughout the three studies indicated the relevance and need for this research.