An innovative breathing game applied with textile sensors

Abstract

Recently there has been much interest in and speculation about whether games could be used to improve health, learning and behaviour but there is little empirical evidence that games work. Physiological signals open new channels for communication between the player and the game. In this paper, we use a 4-stage breath belt to detect both breath rate and amplitude; socks with dome-shaped sensors can detect gait. The sensors are all digital textile sensors. Sensing breath and gait signals from the player, without discomfort, makes this process continuous and easy to use in real-time. Another advantage is that the 4-stage breath belt and socks can also perform breath therapy and gait analysis. So, we develop this system which can not only extract breath signals and gait parameters but also express images which are directly provided to the user for health analysis during games. We designed a respiratory and gait-computer interface for games.