Optimum arousal level preservation system using biosignals

The purpose of this study is to develop a driver's optimum arousal level preservation system while driving. The important point of developing this system is how we keep a driver's adequate conditions on driving. Most of the systems, which have been already put to practical use, are using audible sound or warning messages on a display to urge driver to take a rest. However, arousal levels are strongly related to the balance of autonomic modulations; therefore we need the stimulation that preserves a driver's adequate condition physiologically. Some preceding studies reported that the stimulation using the biological rhythms especially heart beating rhythms are influential to human body. We gave a consideration to this fact and made a course of using driver's heartbeat rhythm for the feedback stimulation to realize the demand. In this paper, we examined the stimulation from two points of views. The one is to investigate the possibilities of controlling a driver's heartbeat rhythms by making synchronization between the driver's heartbeat and a vibratory stimulation. The other one is to find out the stimulation that induces RSA (Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia) in order to adjust the parasympathetic modulations. The result of the experiment indicated that the 1 [s] constant beat stimulation has an effect of inducing RSA, and the stimulation using a rhythm of heartbeat has a possibility of controlling driver's heart rate variability, and its' efficiency might be possible to be improved by adjusting the rhythm of the stimulation to the driver's heartbeat rhythms.