our projects
Heart of Ballet
A collaboration between Heartbond and Collision Unknown
Research questions
In this exciting research project we were fortunate enough to work with two world-class ballet dancers, Matthew Ball & Mayara Magri, and a small audience to answer three questions. Can we measure the heart synchronisation between?
- Dancers
- Audience members
- Dancers and the audience members
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Additionally we wanted to test if we could measure audience engagement and relate this to the joy and inspiration that ballet brings.
What we discovered
We recorded five experiments using the Heartbond app and gathered the feelings of the audience and dancers in written form. The results showed that heart rate variability synchronisation was present between dancers and audience members in all three research situations. The self-reports backed up these results. We also observed complex clustered correlations within the audience at peak moments during the dances. All participants of the study left more inspired than when they arrived and this was reflected in the degree of synchronisation observed.
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What this means
The results of this feasibility study show the promise of using heart synchronisation technology to measure audience engagement and appreciation. There is also an opportunity to use it to coach performers to dismantle what they call 'the 4th wall' - that invisible barrier that can prevent them connecting with the audience.
This research inspired the development of the Heartbond console which could be used in the future to monitor the effectiveness of dance and other art performances. Immersive display of the data would present exciting opportunities to engage audience and performers alike.
Gorse Hill Research Workshop
A collaboration between Heartbond and HeartMath UK & IRL
Research questions
During this workshop we set out to replicate some of the findings from our previous research with a larger number of experimenter pairs. We set up experiments to investigate if the heart rate patterns of two people synchronise when:
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- they make sustained eye-contact over short distances
- one person feels love, appreciation and gratitude for another, sitting back to back.
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Two experimenters making sustained eye-contact with each other, 2 metres apart (LF/HF).
The results
We recorded data across both the research questions for 11 pairs and found that synchronisation was present in many cases. The results show that HRV synchronisation is a natural and common phenomenon present in all relationship encounters. We found that the degree of synchronisation varies with the level of presence, attention and intention that experimenters have for each other.
Two experimenters back-to-back, sitting, experimenter in green focusing positive intentions during pink periods only, experimenter in orange reading. (LF/HF)
Studying the mechanism for
HRV Synchronisation
Research questions & results
In this intriguing project we set out to test the assumption that the mechanism for HRV synhronisation relies solely on conventional sensory cues. For instance the experimenters hear each other's breathing sounds and adapt their heart rates subconsciously to synchronise.
We ran two experiments, one with both experimenters in one room and the the same experiment in two different rooms. As you will see in the video, the results provide strong evidence that conventional sensory cues, although important in HRV sycnhronisation, cannot be the only explanation for this phenomenon.
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