Infrared earable uses warmth cues to support relaxation and recovery
Calmables: Demonstrating Closed-Loop Infrared Earables for Thermal Biofeedback and Relaxation Support
Human-Computer Interaction
Summary
When people get stressed or their heart beats fast, the authors created a small device that warms the ear to help them relax. The device learns each person's normal heartbeat and then gently heats the ear when the heart rate goes above that level. In tests, people said this warming felt more relaxing than a fake version that didn’t heat up. This shows how tiny heat signals can help people notice and calm their bodies in real time.
What this means in practice
- •For consumer wearable designers: Create devices providing real-time relaxation support using personalized thermal cues triggered by heart rate changes.$Commercial implications: Enables development of consumer ear-worn products that subtly promote relaxation through adaptive warmth feedback based on biometric signals.
- •For human-computer interaction engineers: Design biofeedback systems that use subtle thermal cues for physiological state awareness and short recovery moments.
Authors
Valeria Zitz, Michael Küttner, Jonas Hummel, Taku Inoue, Tobias Rödiger, Michael Beigl
Abstract
We present Calmables, a walk-up demo of a closed-loop infrared earable that uses smart-ring heart rate to create subtle, ear-localized warming cues. Building on work on thermal comfort and in-ear infrared stimulation, Calmables explores warmth at the ear as a biosignal-adaptive cue for brief recovery moments following acute activation. A smartphone first establishes an individual resting baseline and derives a personalized heart-rate threshold, while the earable controller independently enforces an over-temperature cut-off and communication fail-safes. During the guided demo flow, attendees complete a brief rapid-breathing activation phase until their heart rate reaches the personalized threshold. This triggers an ear-localized warming cue followed by a short relaxation phase, while physiological changes are displayed on a live dashboard. Attendees can also manually explore different infrared stimulation intensities. To contextualize the demo, we report preliminary placebo-controlled UX ratings from 18 participants: participants rated the active prototype higher on perceived relaxation and perceived recovery support than an identical-looking placebo. Together, the demo illustrates how infrared earables can make physiological feedback tangible through subtle, biosignal-adaptive thermal cues.