MEASURING HEART RATE SYNCHRONY FOR A PATIENT-MUSIC THERAPIST DYAD

Caregivers are essential to patient health and wellness, especially regarding infant patients. Stress on parent caregivers can impact parent-infant bonding and ultimately infant health. Music therapy has been shown to decrease stress for mothers of hospitalized infants. Implementing music therapy as an approach to decrease parent-caregiver stress may help reduce physiological signs of stress e.g. heart rate. Coordinated heart rate, or heart rate synchrony, may reflect trust building, therapeutic calming of the body, and stress reaction through participant-therapist interactions. This study investigates the feasibility of data collection and analysis as indicated by heart rate synchrony between an adult and a music therapist before, during, and after therapy sessions as a hypothesis for the translation of heart rate synchrony between parent-infant dyads. Utilizing Garmin smartwatches and a secure data transfer system, vital signs data was collected and analyzed with MATLAB. Preliminary results reveal a pronounced synchrony between participant and music therapist during specific interaction phases. The study contributes to the evolving understanding of the complex physiological dynamics between dyads, particularly within the realm of music therapy. The identified synchrony underscores the potential significance of music therapy in fostering physiological alignment between participants, laying the foundation for future research in support of caregiver health and wellbeing.