Dodging stress with a personalized biofeedback game

Abstract

We present a personalized biofeedback game that trains subjects to relax during gameplay. Training is achieved by increasing the game difficulty if the subject's breathing rate differs from a prescribed target. Personalization is achieved by adapting game difficulty to the subject's skill level, thus keeping the game challenging over long periods. Validation on a small group of users indicates that the game is effective at training players to acquire deep breathing skills and reducing arousal in a subsequent stress-inducing task.