MeditAid: a wearable adaptive neurofeedback-based system for training mindfulness state

Abstract

A recent interest in interaction design is towards the development of novel technologies emphasizing the value of mindfulness, monitoring, awareness, and self-regulation for both health and wellbeing. Whereas existing systems have focused mostly on relaxation and awareness of feelings, there has been little exploration on tools supporting the self-regulation of attention during mindfulness sitting meditation. This paper describes the design and initial evaluation of MeditAid, a wearable system integrating electroencephalography (EEG) technology with an adaptive aural entrainment for real time training of mindfulness state. The system identifies different meditative states and provides feedback to support users in deepening their meditation. We report on a study with 16 meditators about the perceived strengths and limitations of the MeditAid system. We demonstrate the benefits of binaural feedback in deepening meditative states, particularly for novice meditators.

Dynamic Displays at Wrist for Real Time Visualization of Affective Data

“…The emergence of wearable technologies for tracking physical and mental health [12] shows increased interest in self-understanding and behavior change. Traditional wrist-worn displays represent affective data in time-series graphs [8] which provide limited user engagement for reflection.…”

Mindfulness and Technology

“…This is juxtaposed with work that focuses on apps [e.g. 14,22,26], where there is a growing trend to use neuro-biology, VR and other sophisticated tools to measure and give feedback on body functions with a view to quietening them.…”

“…We present here thoughts about how we might design with an awareness of mindfulness that develops existing but fragmented work in this area [14,22,26]. While the dominant rational frame of technology design research can be problematic for mindfulness, we attempt to engage with it rather than avoid or criticise it, using this essay to wonder what relationships are possible between technology and mindfulness, while contemplating the interrelatedness of designing for interaction, use and wider life.…”

Communication Needs of Elderly at Risk of Falls and their Remote Family

“…Such work has spanned research areas from supporting memory [10,34,39,40] and mental health [33] to assistance in the end of life care [35] or supporting the needs of the caregivers [5,19]. HCI research focusing on designing for elderly people [24,25] and their specific needs (including those of caregivers) has identified several challenges around the issues of privacy [6,18,43] and control [1,7,17,41].…”