Effects of Interactive Music Tempo with Heart Rate Feedback on Physio-Psychological Responses of Basketball Players

Abstract

This paper introduces an interactive music tempo control with closed-loop heart rate feedback to yield a sportsperson with better physio-psychological states. A total of 23 participants (13 men, 10 women; 16–32 years, mean = 20.04 years) who are professionals or school team members further guide a sportsperson to amend their physical tempo to harmonize their psychological and physical states. The self-tuning mechanism between the surroundings and the human can be amplified using interactive music tempo control. The experiments showed that listening to interactive music had a significant effect on the heart rate and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) of the basketball player compared to those listening to asynchronous music or no music during exercise (p < 0.01). Synchronized interactive music allows athletes to increase their heart rate and decrease RPE during exercise and does not require a multitude of preplanned playlists. All self-selected songs can be converted into sports-oriented music using algorithms. The algorithms of synchronous and asynchronous modes in this study can be adjusted and applied to other sports fields or recovery after exercise. In the future, other musical parameters should be adjusted in real-time based on physiological signals, such as tonality, beats, chords, and orchestration.