Conference article

Recently; many companies and research groups have focused on developing merchandise and services to meet the relaxation requirements of our demanding society. Relaxation CDs are popular because we can buy them easily in many music shops and no specialized equipment is required to enjoy relaxation. However; it is difficult to make music that is liked by everyone because people have individual musical preferences. In a previous study on relaxation with music; we developed a system to make music from human biosignals (Itoh et al.; 2006). This system is expected to make music that is preferred by most users. In other research; there have been various studies about the relationship among many musical phenomena and its effect on relaxation. (Nakamura et al.; 2002) described the relationships between the tone and power spectrum of the alpha wave using electroencephalography (EEG). (Fukumoto et al.; 2004) described a heartbeat and music tempo synchronization phenomenon. They also discussed the relationships between synchronization and relaxation effect using heart rate variability (HRV). On the other hand; investigation on musical tempo and impression change using subjective valuation has been reported by (Kurashima et al.; 2004). These studies show that there are many musical phenomena and ways to investigate them. However above-mentioned studies did not examine the relationship between music tempo and pulse tempo while listening to music; and its effect on relaxation. Our study investigates the relationship between pulse tempo and musical tempo; and its effect on relaxation. The aim of these studies is to clarify the characteristics of relaxation music and to produce music that helps us to relax.

Music; tempo; relaxation effect; EEG; HRV