Thesis Project at NYU IDM, 2023

During my last year at NYU's Integrated Design & Media Master's program, I undertook a thesis project that involved developing a VR mindfulness experience centered around the heart. The entire project spanned over a period of 8 months until its completion.

Ideation & Research

Amidst the chaos of the COVID-19 outbreak, something peculiar caught my attention - a sudden surge of interest in mindfulness. As people were forced into lockdowns and remote working, they found themselves relying more heavily on technology, prompting a call for a more mindful approach to using it.

Mindfulness, in essence, involves focusing your mind and body on the present moment experience. To do this, most mindfulness practices require an anchor to center your attention, such as the breath or body parts. Surprisingly, the heart - a crucial component in mindfulness - is often overlooked as an anchor due to our inability to perceive it without external tools. And that's precisely why I wanted to explore the potential of using the heart as an anchor for mindfulness in my thesis project. I chose virtual reality as my medium for its immersiveness.

Prototype 1.0

The first prototype involved using stethoscopes to capture the user's heartbeat and visualize it through Unreal Engine in real-time, providing an immersive and engaging experience. More specifically, I used stethoscopes to capture the user's heartbeat, which was then recorded through microphones connected to the stethoscopes. This recorded sound was then transmitted to the computer and processed in Unreal Engine, where it was amplified and visualized.

The users were able to see the visualization and hear the sound of their own heartbeats through a VR headset, making for a powerful and transformative experience. The visual representation of the heartbeat brought an additional layer of depth to the experience, facilitating a more profound connection with one's body and emotions.

Despite the technical success of this prototype, user feedback revealed that there were limitations to the experience. Users felt restricted in movement and lacked interactivity, as they had to remain still and quiet during the heartbeat capture process. Additionally, the sound quality of the heartbeat captured was not optimal, which detracted from the overall audio experience. Ultimately, the experience was deemed too stressful to be a mindfulness practice.

In the upgraded version, I made the decision to pivot away from real-time heartbeat recording due to the technical constraints. Instead, I incorporated a selection of pre-recorded heartbeats with varying speeds and volumes.

By providing users with different options for the heartbeat sound, they could choose the pace and volume that best suited their needs and preferences. This approach resulted in a more personalized and comfortable experience, enhancing the overall effectiveness of the mindfulness practice.

Video Demonstration

Start: The users will find themselves at an intersection of three paths each leading to a different level. They can pick a direction and proceed.

Testing

The effectiveness of this VR experience was evaluated through a study in which eight NYU students participated. The students were asked to complete a survey of 14 multiple-choice questions after engaging with the VR experience. According to the survey results, six out of eight users reported feeling a change in their state of mind, with all of them feeling more focused on their hearts, and five feeling more mindful about their present-moment experience.

Overall, users provided positive feedback for this iteration, suggesting that using the heartbeat as an anchor in VR is an effective way to promote mindfulness.

I acknowledge that the survey result could be biased due to several confounding variables:

• Since the survey participants were all NYU students, there is a risk of bias in the responses, despite the anonymity of the survey. To mitigate this, using a randomized group for future iterations could help reduce this confounding variable.

• The current sample size is small. For future iterations, I would like to recruit at least 30 participants to generate more quantitative insights.

• Although the descriptive analysis provided some useful insights, it is important to note that the results were not based on scientific significance. Including control groups or before-after tests in future iterations could help provide more reliable conclusions.

Through the process of iterative ideation and prototyping, I expanded my knowledge and skills by trying out new methods and technologies. This included working with the particle systems and audio capture in the Unreal Engine, animating 3D models, and gaining a deeper understanding of user experience design in virtual reality contexts.