New Apps Let Your Heart Create and Curate Your Music

By Carolyn Heneghan

Have you ever heard the saying, “Listen to the rhythm of your heart”? Well, now with certain technological advances in heartbeat monitoring, that proverb is beginning to ring true.

Both devices and apps have been developed in recent years that effectively monitor your heartbeat and turn those impulses into music. And not only can music be created by your heartbeat, but your heartbeat itself can also be affected by the music you’re listening to. Check out these heartbeat-music creations that demonstrate the intricate relationship between music and the human heart.

Sound on Intuition

Sound on Intuition is a creation from Belgian designer Pieter-Jan Pieters of the Design Academy Eindhoven. After being denied by music schools due to his inability to read music, Pieters instead pursued an education in design to  invent a method of  creating music by translating their body movements into sounds without needing sheet music or traditional instruments at all.

Pieters designed a few different instruments to accomplish this task, one being a heart monitor. This device can create sounds by using a sensor to pick up the rhythm of your heartbeat. The sounds that could be created include a steady beat or rhythm for a backing beat, but as your heart rate also quickens as you move around and exert energy, your heartbeats could create a modulating rhythm that could offer a unique sound to the body movement-inspired song.

Guess he proved the music schools wrong.

BioBeats’ Pulse App

Another such device takes pulse monitoring one step further and creates entire songs around the changing rhythms of your heartbeat: BioBeats’ Pulse. Pulse generates electronic music based on your heart rate and the genre of electronic music that you select. As your heart rate changes, the music will change to mimic it. To do this, all you have to do is hold your finger over your iPhone camera, and the camera’s optical sensor will monitor changes in your finger’s color as blood flows to determine the rhythm of your heartbeat.

BioBeats co-founder Nadeem Kassam believes that this app might go further than simply being a means for entertainment and could eventually affect the healthcare industry. Pulse is a fun way to monitor your heart rate, which is an important aspect of healthcare for many people, and this device could raise awareness of the importance of monitoring your heart rate while working toward prevention of certain illnesses or health situations.

In addition to being a tool to create music, Pulse joins the proliferation of healthcare devices, such as wearables, being created today.

Spotify

Spotify is one more company who is looking into this concept, but for Spotify, it’s about tailoring music playlists to fit your mood and movement—all based around your heartbeat. For example, if you’re heartbeat is accelerated for an extended length of time, Spotify can deduce that you might be exercising, so it can play faster, more upbeat music to suit that activity. If your heartbeat is slower, such as while you are relaxing by the pool, Spotify may play music that is more laidback to suit your mood.

Spotify has been making strides to collect as much data about its users as possible to continue bettering its ability to guesstimate and provide the appropriate music at the appropriate time. Just another avenue for collecting this data, heartbeat monitoring is perhaps the next step in bringing tailored playlists to the next level.

How Your Heartbeat Responds To Music

Besides all these companies that monitor your heartbeat to create and tailor music, did you also know that, conversely, music also affects your heartbeat? Music is a powerful instrument that can affect anything from your mood and muscle tension to your heartbeat, pulse and brainwaves, and your mind and body can experience significant reactions based solely on what you are listening to in the moment.

For example, if you are listening to rock or electronic music with a harder, faster beat, your heartbeat will involuntarily speed up to match the intensity of the music. If you are listening to classical, ambient, or calm, relaxing music, your heartbeat will slow down. That’s part of the reason why if you’re looking to get pumped up, you might put on more upbeat music because not only will it improve your mood, but it will accelerate your heart rate as well. This means that not only does your mind get pumped up, but your entire body does as well.

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