The Idea
The head device I am creating aims to regulate the users ‘mood’ (measured by their heart rate) using two pulsating LED’s which frequency will be controlled by the users heart BPM or a knob. Listening to your heart can be quite a meditative experience and often lowers its rate. It will be interesting to see if the heart sensor output into the LED’s will increase heart rate in most cases and create a feedback loop. This is where experimentation will be essential. Headphones will also come on the goggles so that the entire experience will feed into itself. A beeping/ticking noise will accompany the flashing/pulsating lightsI also did a bit of research into how colour temperature can affect mood. So depending on the frequency input, there will be a specific Kelvin temperature (between 2700k-6500k) Some other interesting research I found was about how light at 40hertz substantially reduces the beta amyloid plaques which is seen in Alzheimer’s disease. So this device could also go down the path of Neuro Hacking. This however isn’t ‘visualizing data’ in art. I have also thought about extending from the LED path and using small screens inside the goggles which will pulsate and react in a more aesthetical way, adding onto the data narrative. Because of the ‘in your face’ nature of this project a lot of experimentation will have to take place otherwise the end product will be unbearable put on… unless that is its purpose

The Tools
The live heart rate input will be collected from the user. The pulse sensor will then be wired to an aduino which will process the data. From aduino, the LED’s will respond as the output. I will need to experiment to what level this data will be controlled at e.g it might be too intense if the LED’s match the exact BPM, so might make the lights blink once every 2 beats. The data will also be processed into sound with a pulsating frequency. Again I will need to experiment with this as I am creating the device. As you can see by the simplistic drawings a phone VR gogglebox will house the electronics. This will be a portable device and will run on batteries. Originally the LED’s were going to come through a mirror so that you would see yourlsef in the reflection but after testing I found that It would be impossible to see your eyes through the eye lens’. I might still test this out however.

The Plan
I aim to have the device built and tested by week 11 so that I will be able to refine and improve its usability. Already my initial tests with phone VR goggles have shown me that instead of one LED I will need two. If the idea works well with the LED’s (and I have mroe time left) I could also try to create a 3D visualisation instead of pulsating LED’s. This would make the project more complex but if I have extra time i will go down this route.